Beyond the Phantasmagoria
by DaemonOmega
Summary: Reimu is aware of the other world that lies just beyond the Great Hakurei Barrier, but what happens when she ends up stranded in that world? Is this another of Yukari's schemes or is something else at work...? Let's follow Reimu and see!
1. Prologue

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

...I guess that means, plot aside, I don't really own any of this.

Oh well.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Fun With Numbers Arc<em>

Prologue: Dreamless Night

Reimu dreamt as she did any other night. Her dreams were as varied as the denizens of Gensokyo and the realms connected to it.

Sometimes she dreamt of epic and magnificent spellcard battles against Gensokyo's denizens be they human, youkai or whatever else. Her feelings about spellcard dreams were neutral. On the one hand, she hates having to expend unnecessary effort, even if it's just a dream. On the other hand, not that she'd ever admit it to anyone, those kinds of dreams were fun and exciting. It also gave her the extra benefit of helping improve her own skills at spellcard battles without actually having to do any work. She always liked it if she could get something accomplished without putting any effort in; that's what natural talent and good luck is for anyway.

Other times, she would dream of her family, past, present and future. When she dreamt of family sometimes they would be of her mother and father, the ones who raised her up until their premature demise in the line of duty. She knew the youkai who were responsible for her parents' deaths, but she knew there was no point in openly holding a grudge against them. Humans have always feared the youkai so they exterminate them. Youkai have always found humans to be tasty morsels and so they hunted them. It was merely the natural order of things and Reimu had neither the desire nor the time to change it; the closest she ever came to doing so was introducing the Spellcard Duelling System and it wasn't as if she came up with it just so she could have a valid reason to mercilessly beat on the youkai responsible for her parents' death without disrupting the natural balance, not at all.

Other times she dreamt of her family in the present. This mainly dealt with the residents of Gensokyo, be they human, youkai or anything else, and how she does or, in some cases, would like to interact with them. Strangely enough these dreams always managed to lead to a spellcard dream one way or another.

She always wondered why.

Then there were the dreams of her family that would eventually be. Reimu had no delusions of living forever and she accepted the fact that one day her life would come to an end, but not before she had a family first. Admittedly it would be hard for an Outsider, or even some of Gensokyo's residents for that matter, to see Reimu eventually marrying a man and settling down considering her choice in friends and acquaintances, the overwhelming majority of whom were female. There was also the fact that the Great Hakurei Barrier needs someone to maintain it and that would be a terribly difficult task to perform if one were dead. Having a husband and children to take care of would be a pleasant change, and convenient excuse, from dealing with Incidents too. She was aware of the fact that she had an excellent track record of dealing with Incidents, but she always hated having to be the one involved in almost all of them and wasting precious time and effort she could spend lazing about...or finding a man that suits her fancy.

And then there were 'those' dreams...Ones which involve her and residents of Gensokyo involved in things she would rather not discuss, even in the safety and privacy of her own mind. Granted, not all of them were unpleasant, far from it, but if they involved either Marisa or Yukari, or worse, both, then she'd rather shoot herself in the head with those things the Kappa and the Outsiders called 'guns'...or repeatedly bash her head against the nearest solid object until all memories of those dreams ceased to exist, but that option was admittedly rather messy. For a reason she couldn't fathom, she just knew those Outsiders were at fault for those kinds of dreams...Either them or Yukari messing with the boundaries of her dreams. If the latter was the case, Yukari had better pray Reimu never finds out, maintenance of the Barrier be damned!

This night was different though. There were no dreams of battle, or family, or things Reimu would never dare discuss with anyone other than Satori short of telling her not to say a word or else spellcard rules were going out the window.

This night was dreamless.

This night was peaceful.

It was perfect...

But you know how the saying goes, "It's too good to be true..."?

With another incident looming over the horizon, let's just say that Reimu better savor her first, and last, night of peaceful sleep...


	2. Fun With Numbers Arc Stage I

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

For those curious I reuploaded the entirety of the first arc with improved grammar and spelling.

...that and a major edit to a plot point starting in Stage 3.

If this is your first time reading this fanfic, pay the previous message no mind.

All Hail ZUN!

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Fun With Numbers Arc<em>

Stage 1: Of School and Spellcards

Reimu lazily rubbed the sleep out of her eyes as an annoying ringing sound woke her from her peaceful slumber. Not wanting the sound to continue any further, she reached over to her right, grabbed her gohei and slammed it down onto the source of the ringing. The sound not stopping, Reimu grumbled as to how her supposedly indestructible gohei couldn't silence the perpetrator of the ringing noise. Looking at her right hand she saw why her choice melee weapon did absolutely nothing.

She was holding a pillow instead of her gohei.

Understandably pissed that Suika had probably taken her gohei for fun, Reimu's eyes shot wide open as she scanned the room to see if the perma-plastered loli oni was anywhere in sight. In an act that defied human physiology and anatomy, Reimu's eyes went even wider at the sight before her.

Gone was the spartan room that contained only a comfortable futon and her gohei. Instead, it was replaced with a room more 'Western' in appearance, if those Outsiders were to be believed. Her tatami mats were all but gone, leaving only a laminated hardwood floor beneath her. When did she laminate the floors anyway? Her futon was replaced by a Western style bed complete with sheets and blankets in her trademark red and white color scheme. Beside the head of the bed was a simple wooden nightstand that doubled as a cabinet upon which the ringing object, an alarm clock, rested. She tilted her head to the side in confusion as to why she had an alarm clock in the first place.

With a sigh of resignation, Reimu got out of bed and muttered to herself, "An Incident involving spontaneous overnight renovation, huh? Well, at least a youkai whose ability is to renovate can't be all that hard to take down...Just got to-"

"Ya~hoo! Morning, Rei-chan~! Rise and shine sleepy head~!" greeted the cheerful voice of a certain kleptomaniac witch. Reimu was about to, as rudely as she could, tell the thieving bitch to a) get the hell out of her room and b) get the fuck off her property when a new development caught her attention.

"A youkai whose ability is to turn any outfit into a sailor's uniform...?" Reimu wondered to herself before shaking in fear. "Such an abomination must it be if it can induce fan service at will...As if dealing with Shameimaru when trying to get panty shots for the Outsiders wasn't bad enough...Oh wait, I wear bloomers. Enh, everyone else's problem."

"Man...This is the most serious I've seen you with your shrine maiden duties, ze" Marisa offhandedly commented while Reimu kept talking to herself. "It's all good though, youkai don't even exist. Ah, that's right; I almost forgot why I came here!"

"And what, pray tell, did you come in for if it involved breaking into private property?" Reimu asked Marisa, barely concealing her building annoyance towards the now sailor uniform wearing witch.

"That you're running late for school," Marisa explained before adding, "And what do you mean 'breaking in'? You gave me spare keys to your house in case you ever slept in, ze."

Growing increasingly annoyed at the witch's admittedly good attempt at lying, Reimu said to her, "Let me tell you a few things wrong with your explanation. One, I don't go to school; I laze around the shrine grounds until something annoying requires my immediate attention. Two, I'm not stupid enough to give a thieving bitch like you keys to my house so you can steal my stuff any time you want. Three, 'Youkai don't exist'? What? Did Cirno convince you to go eat some magic mushrooms you two found in the Forest of Magic or something?"

"Whoa...That's it, I'm calling your mom and getting her to take you to a hospital, ze" Marisa said as she pulled out a cellphone and looked up Reimu's mother in her phone's directory.

"My mom is dead, Marisa..." Reimu said to the witch in a quiet voice.

"I know that; I meant your stepmom, Yakumo-san, silly."

"Yakumo-san...?" repeated Reimu as if Marisa would simply say she was just joking.

Marisa didn't.

"Yeah, Yukari Yakumo-san. She's legally registered as your stepmom and she told me to call her in case you're ever in trouble. Since you're acting disturbingly weird right now, I'm pretty sure I'm well within my rights as your best friend to call her."

Reimu's mouth hung open at the thought of Yukari being her stepmother...and Marisa proclaiming herself as her best friend. The former unnerved her the most though the latter was a close second. "Marisa, can you get me something to kill myself with? A length of rope or a kitchen knife should suffice. I just want this nightmare done and over with..."

Marisa ignored Reimu's pleas to assist her in suicide and proceeded to talk to Reimu's stepmother. "Morning, Yakumo-san~! Can you come over to Reimu's place and help me out? She's acting all weird again."

"Fu fu fu, silly Rei-chan~! What is it this time? Has she been reading too many mangas again? Or maybe she's obsessing over a new video game?" Yukari asked Marisa.

"She thinks youkai and magic are real, I'm a thieving bitch and that skipping school is perfectly fine," Marisa answered, "Oh and she wants me to help her commit suicide...Something about you being her mom...?"

"Oh dear...That does sound rather serious...Perhaps I should cut back on the playful teasing...Anyway, do you still have that Taser I gave you?" Yukari asked in reply.

"Yep. Permission to use Taser?"

"Permission granted~. Try to make sure Rei-chan doesn't hurt herself~!"

Reimu worriedly glanced at Marisa who was holding a Taser in her hands and letting it crackle. Truth be told, Reimu had no idea what a Taser was or what it does, but common sense dictates that anything capable of discharging an electrical charge is not to be trifled with.

"H-hey...What do you think you're doing with that contraption?" Reimu worriedly asked. She tried to take her mind off things by cursing Eirin or Kourin for letting Marisa get a hold of such a machine. As if her mini-hakkero wasn't bad enough...

"It'll sting a little, but you'll be safer this way, ze." Reimu swore at herself for not leaping out of bed right away and trying to get her gohei back from Suika...Assuming the perpetually inebriated loli oni did have it.

Marisa gave Reimu no chance to counter whatsoever as she leapt on top of Reimu and held her down before jabbing the Taser at Reimu's neck. Reimu's body convulsed in response and she felt herself starting to lose consciousness. As her vision faded to black, Reimu saw Marisa mouthing 'I'm sorry, ze' and plastering a smile on her face as if she had just performed a great act of kindness.

And Reimu once again found herself dreaming.

This time she dreamt of youkai who could renovate houses and turn all outfits into sailor uniforms and Marisa doing naughty things with that 'Taser' she didn't even think was possible.

How she wished Marisa would have just killed her instead so she could wake up from this horrible dual nightmare...

**-Border of Reality-**

Reimu once again sleepily opened her eyes and found herself bewildered by the sight before her. Sitting beside her bed, stethoscope in hand, was none other than Eirin the Lunarian. From what she could see, it would seem that Eirin had finally legitimized her occupation as a doctor. The Lunarian doctor was busy taking her vital signs, likely checking to see if she had a fever or some other illness. The fact that a look of perpetual confusion graced the face of the Lunarian was enough proof for Reimu that she was in perfect health...But if that were the case then why would Eirin be concerned about her health in the first place? Did Yukari make her?

"Odd...She doesn't seem to be ill and there's nothing to suggest that she's been drugged..." the Lunarian said to conclude her diagnosis, "Although, just to be sure, I'll take these blood samples back to the lab to be analyzed. It's entirely possible she's been exposed to some kind of chemical, intentionally or not, that I have no knowledge of."

"Any other suggestions, Dr. Yagokoro?" Yukari asked the Lunarian. Reimu's head instantly turned to glare at the gap hag who was in her room uninvited.

"The possibility that the problem might be neurological or psychological in nature can't be dismissed...My old student, Dr. Inaba, is a neurologist so should the need ever arise I can set Hakurei-san with an appointment with her, even on short notice. As for a psychiatrist, Satori Komeji-san is your best bet" Eirin said in reply.

"Thank you very much, Dr. Yagokoro," thanked Yukari, "Although I'm surprised you were able to make a house call. Kaguya not being too much of a handful these days?"

"Mercifully, yes, she hasn't been a pain in the ass," Eirin replied just as she noticed a lewd look on Yukari's face. "NO! We're not like that! Geez, Yukari-chan, you haven't changed at all since middle school...Don't you think it's about time you grew up?"

"Heaven's no! You only get to live once and I'm still as youthful as ever, both in mind and in body~!" Yukari answered making sure to exaggerate the motion of her...uhm...assets.

"I curse the scientific miracle that has allowed you to keep your youth every waking moment of my life since I've met you..." Eirin said as she brought her palm to her face. Reimu didn't know it, but while Yukari looked to be in her early twenties, she was in actuality almost fifty. Yukari's youth could truly qualify as a scientific miracle...or magic. Either way the result was a Yukari who looked young enough to be either Reimu's or Marisa's older sister rather than stepmother and guardian respectfully.

"Oh come now, Eirin-chan~! I still remember when you used to be a flat-chested tsundere sporting twin tails. Look at you now! I'm surprised you haven't found a man for yourself yet~...Or perhaps Kaguya is all you need...~?"

"...I'm leaving now before I violate the Hippocratic Oath I swore to uphold as a medical professional. Since Yukari-chan kindly sidetracked us, Kirisame-san, don't hesitate to call if Hakurei-san's condition does not improve or if it changes."

"You betcha, Yagokoro-sensei! So is Rei-chan fine to go to school?" inquired Marisa.

"Her adamant delusions aside, yes, she's fit enough to attend school. Do keep her on a tight leash though...Figuratively speaking that is; don't get any kinky ideas...Yukari-chan is already a bad enough influence on you..." With those final words of wisdom Eirin was sure was gonna be ignored, she picked up her belongings, bowed and left.

Reimu, not being under Eirin's care any longer, got up out of bed to go eat break-

"Wah~! What do you think you're doing, you kleptomaniac bitch?"

...or get stripped by Marisa...Apparently that has a higher priority than eating...

"You're obviously out of it so I'm gonna be helping you get changed!" proclaimed the witch before addressing Yukari. "Yakumo-san, can you get me Rei-chan's uniform?"

"Aww...But I wanted to make up her-"

"...bentos are in the fridge. There's enough there for all three of us. I made sure to make use of the time Rei-chan spent sleeping to make us something to eat. Speaking of, why do you keep your fridge full if you only make enough for single servings?" Marisa asked the shrine maiden.

"Because I'm too lazy to constantly restock my fridge" Reimu replied deadpan. She didn't actually know why she did, or rather why 'Rei-chan' does. "Anyway, both of you get out. I need some time to get my bearings..."

Picking up on Reimu's serious tone of voice, the pair of blondes merely shrugged and complied. Once both of them were out of her room, Reimu proceeded to finish the task that the witch started. She rummaged through her dressers to find a uniform that matched Marisa's own. After a couple minutes and a pile of clothes later, Reimu found said outfit hanging in her closet. She proceeded to change easily into it as it was rather similar to her own customized shrine maiden outfit she normally wore. One thing that displeased her was the lack of bloomers in her repertoire of clothes. Instead she made use of a pair of shorts as a convenient substitute. Reimu made sure to remind herself to shop for some as soon as school was over. After cleaning herself up a little, she finally walked out of her home where she was greeted by Marisa.

"Here, this one is for you" Marisa said as she handed a bento to Reimu.

"Didn't know you could cook."

"You never asked, ze."

"Hmm, I have a theory as to why you think I'm acting so weird, but first I need you to answer something..." began Reimu.

"Shoot, ze."

"Has the shrine always looked this...perfect?" Reimu glanced back at the shrine and found it was in pristine condition, not at all like how her shrine normally was; except that one time after the Scarlet Weather Rhapsody Incident, but even that didn't last long...

"I remember back when it used to look like a dump, but when you're parents, and I mean your biological ones, started running the place, the condition gradually improved. Yakumo-san certainly helped in that she personally funds the shrine."

"Hmm, guess I'm not Reimu Hakurei then-"

"Woman, you be acting crazy again-!"

"...not the Reimu Hakurei you know at least. And you definitely aren't the Marisa I know...when it comes to stealing anyway."

"So, like, what? You from an alternate universe where magic and youkai are real?" Marisa asked skeptically though her voice betrayed some curiosity and awe.

"Pretty much. Watch." Reimu focused, noting it was much harder to do so than usual, and began to fly around freely which spooked Marisa to say the least.

"THE POWER OF CHRIST COMPELS YOU, SATAN!" Marisa yelled out while making a cross with her index fingers.

After finishing her display, Reimu gracefully landed beside Marisa and told her, "Of all the incantations I've ever heard, that one probably has the least effect on me. I'm a shrine maiden, remember? A holy representative of the shrine's deity?"

"You got some ofudas or charms I can use then?"

"Because something powered by my own power would be more effective on me" Reimu replied sarcastically before rolling her eyes.

"Alright, alright...I get it...You're not Rei-chan..."

"Good. Now please do shut-"

"I'm calling you Rei-nyan instead~!"

"Why? Because I'm an alternate universe version of your friend?"

"Your ribbon looks like cat ears. Don't tell me you've never noticed, ze?"

"Truly I tell you those Outsiders are responsible for all those weird rumors back home..." Reimu said as she shook her head.

"So how much do you remember about school?" Marisa asked to shift their conversation to something mundane.

"I'm not sure about protocols and how I should act towards others, but I'm not stupid by any stretch of the imagination. Though I'm fairly certain I'll struggle through History..."

"Well then, good thing you have me as your friend!"

"You are a hard worker...I'll give you that. I figure you must be fairly bright at least."

"Second highest test scores in class~!" boasted Marisa. Reimu wondered who had the highest when Marisa answered that question for her. "Naturally, being the lazy smartass you usually are, you have the highest test scores in our class."

"Naturally" repeated Reimu. She never realized it until now just how often Marisa played second fiddle to her. Was it because she had trapped her in her shadow or was it because, as both her friend and rival, she was reliant upon Reimu's success to try and one up her? She pondered it carefully and gave a thoughtful hum when Marisa snapped her out of her reverie.

"Anything else you want to know, ze?"

"I'm going to list the names of some people. Tell me if you recognize them..."

"Go ahead."

"Rinnosuke Morichika."

"Currently studying archaeology at the local university and owner of the antiques/pawn shop called 'Kourindo'. Also really good looking. Might possibly be gay."

"Too much information...Sanae Kochiya."

"Kochiya-senpai is a year ahead of us at our school and is the shrine maiden of the city's only other Shinto shrine, Moriya Shrine. Really popular with the guys; even more popular with certain girls due to...uh...certain family circumstances..."

"Okay...? Fujiwara no Mokou."

"Don't you mean Mokou Fujiwara?"

"Just answer..."

"Fujiwara-senpai is a year ahead of us at our school and is a well-known delinquent...Also a pyromaniac and might possibly be a lesbian if rumors about her and Kaguya are true" Marisa answered, quickly tacking on the last part as if it was pertinent to what Reimu was trying to figure out. "Anyone else?"

"No, I've got a general idea now...Along with some stuff I really didn't need to know..." Reimu responded with a glare. "Basically, everyone is more or less the same except they are completely and utterly normal."

"Didn't know homosexual relations were commonplace back on your world, ze."

"They aren't; the Outsiders think otherwise...Damn them for making me think such things are normal!"

"Huh, if that's the case, you should fit right in!" chimed Marisa.

"That says a lot..." Reimu replied after Marisa failed to realize that she had effectively said everyone in this version of Gensokyo was just as weird as their counterparts in Reimu's version of Gensokyo...Which says a lot considering most of the beings in Gensokyo are fantastical moe anthromorphications of monsters and magic users while everyone in this world was 'normal' by Gensokyo standards.

Truly Reimu was gonna be in for one hell of a time.

The two discussed further differences in order to help Reimu acclimatise to her new surroundings until they reached a bus stop. Reimu offhandedly commented that there were no buses in Gensokyo to which Marisa proposed a strangely sound theory. If the Lunarians and Kappa were so technologically advanced and everyone can fly, including the 'normal' Outsiders, then public transportation was not only redundant, but useless. To try and invent buses would not only be stupid, but it'd be a waste of time. Nevertheless, Reimu was thankful that buses do exist here as flying was simply not a viable option and walking wasn't even considered to be an option. As the two seated themselves in the bus, Reimu caught a sight of some more familiar faces.

"Waha~ and then Wriggle-chan went WHOOSH and then landed on her butt with a PLOINK. It was really funny~" Rumia explained with exaggerated hand motions and sound effects. Listening in further, Reimu noted that Rumia said all of her sound effects as words, rather than as sounds. Truly, an idiot this girl was.

"I didn't know banana peels could be so slippery," retorted an embarrassed Wriggle, "But at least you've stopped referring to me as a guy. Or a Hideoyoshi."

"My calculations are never wrong," boasted a familiar idiot ice fairy turned human child prodigy, "In order to change the misheld conception that you are a boy, it was only natural that we work on accentuating your feminine features."

"I'm still not used to wearing skirts though...Can't I at least wear bloomers?" complained the former bug youkai.

"ABSOLUTELY NOT!" denied Cirno with a booming authoritative voice.

Mystia, ever the voice of reason amongst idiots, said to Wriggle, "What Cirno meant to say was that only by constantly wearing skirts and panties can you ever get used to the sensation. If we let you wear bloomers and shorts again, then you'd just lapse back to wearing male clothing and letting people refer to you as a guy...Unless you prefer it that way?"

"Urk...I guess you're right...I've had it with all the girls who keep confessing to me thinking I'm some really cute guy..." Wriggle confirmed that she was in this for the long haul whether she liked it or not.

"And you look so cute in the female uniform~. It's only a matter of time before you start catching the eyes of the boys in the class~!" Cirno's unnamed best friend said to boost Wriggle's morale.

"Waha~ like this WHOOSH!" Rumia exclaimed before lifting up Wriggle's skirt ever so slightly which caught the attention of more than a few males on the bus. The former bug youkai quickly retained her dignity by holding down her skirt against Rumia's attempts. Reimu could only massage her temples to quell the growing headache their little group's idiocy was inducing while Marisa laughed and said how nice it'd be to be young again.

The commotion Team 9 caused certainly reinforced Reimu's belief that, foreign as this world was, it shared a lot of similarities with her own world. Except for one glaring exception.

A literal glaring exception.

The idiot ice fairy whose goofy grin and short cyan hair made her look tomboyish? Now she looked like a real feminine beauty, her cyan hair cascading halfway down her back and donning a pair of classy, white framed glasses. Gone was her goofy grin and instead it was replaced by a sometimes cute smile and other times a look of utter contempt. Reimu wondered to herself why Cirno, now a beautiful genius it would seem, would still hang out with her idiotic loser friends.

"You there, red-white!" Cirno yelled out to Reimu, "You were insulting my friends and I weren't you?"

"Relax, Cirno-san, Reimu was doing nothing-"

"Oh, so you noticed? You're definitely a lot cleverer than I remembered you being...idiot."

None too pleased, Cirno grabbed Reimu by her blouse with more force than Reimu expected. "Keep insulting my friends and I'll show you how creative I can get with liquid nitrogen."

Both girls were about ready to escalate into a fist fight when both of them collapsed to the floor of the bus, stunned.

"Two is so much better than one~!" Marisa said as she let both of her Tasers crackle. Cirno's friends came to her defense only for Marisa to apologize and explain that Reimu was a little...off, to say the least. Her friends accepted her apology and made off with Cirno.

"That was a big no-no, Rei-nyan," playfully scolded Marisa, "Sometimes it's better, if not easier, to solve problems with choice words rather than force. Remember, while you're in our world, you play by our rules, not yours."

Reimu scoffed, or rather tried to, at the idea of Marisa talking her problems out. Back home she stole, as with most things, a page from Yuka's book on conflict resolution, namely the appropriately named Master Spark. As with other aspects of this new world she found herself in, Reimu was brutally reminded that while some things were the same, others weren't. In this particular scenario she made two mistakes. One, forgetting that while this Marisa did not have a mini-hakkero she did have Tasers and not just one, but two...possibly more. Two, whether she was an idiot or genius, Cirno's fuse for her temper was short and, by some unfortunate twist of Fate, she retained some method of attempting to freeze her.

Truly, Reimu was in for one hell of a time.

The remainder of the bus ride was spent in silence...for Reimu that is. Still somewhat stunned after the stunt Marisa pulled off, she didn't really have many options available to her other than to watch other students that apparently attended her school. She saw some familiar faces like Sanae and Mokou along with some others she didn't recognize, the majority of whom were male. By the time Reimu and Marisa had reached the school, both Reimu and Cirno were no longer stunned. Cirno was pressured into apologizing for picking a fight with their senpais by her friends and proceeded to do so, albeit reluctantly. Reimu apologized as well under Marisa's threat of double tasing her. Reimu cursed whatever deity out there thought it would be a prudent idea to give, not one, but two, weapons of mass destruction to Marisa. Reimu palmed her face at how this world seemed to give her as much trouble as her own even without magic or the like.

Disembarking, Reimu saw even more familiar faces. Some stood out more than others, like Remilia's face bearing that eternally haughty expression and Sakuya's calm, serene expression. And of course some stood out for other reasons aside from facial expressions like certain hair decorations, hats or by all means impossible natural hair colors in this 'normal' world. One stood out in particular though and not for any of the aforementioned reasons.

To be precise, this particular face was charging full speed towards Marisa.

"Onee-sama~!" greeted a certain blonde haired psychotic vampire child.

The young girl effectively glomped onto Marisa and showed no signs of letting go. This, of course, was worrying for Reimu as she wasn't sure what to make of the two. Were they, as Flandre stated, sisters, at least in title? Perhaps lovers? Reimu shook that last thought out of her head. Marisa had been more open to same sex relationships than Reimu, but to have one with a younger girl? Even Marisa had her morals.

"Morning, Flan-chan. How are you doing today?" Marisa asked Flandre.

"Hey, hey, Onee-sama, who's she~?" Flandre asked, ignoring Marisa's greeting.

"Oh? I haven't introduced Hakurei-san to you yet?" Marisa asked more to herself than Flandre.

Not that that stopped Flandre from sating her curiosity.

"Hey, hey, you're still gonna play with me, right, Onee-sama?" Marisa could tell that Flandre was starting to go into Clingy Mode. Long story short, Clingy Mode is what happens when Flandre's yandere side comes out. To stay this state of Flandre's mind was dangerous would be a grave understatement.

"Of course she will; right, Kirisame-san?"

Saving Reimu from certain doom was none other than Hong Meiling. From the clothes she was wearing, namely a black form-fitting suit trimmed with green, she obviously wasn't a student and was probably as old as she looks. She knelt down to Flandre's level and started tickling her. Flandre initially remained resolute in her desire to remain latched onto her 'Onee-sama' and kept herself from laughing. Little by little she began to succumb to Meiling's assault until she was rolling on the ground howling in laughter.

Marisa picked her up and helped her tidy herself. "You bet I will! But right now you have to go to class; you still remember our deal…right?"

"'If I don't score an A on all my tests then you won't let me come over on the weekends and play with you'; see, I remember, Onee-sama~! I remember everything Onee-sama tells me!"

Ruffling her hair, Marisa told her, "Now get to your class! Wouldn't want to be late now."

With a grin brighter than the morning sun, Flandre sped off towards the school. Reimu didn't find it surprising that her friends turned out to be Cirno's group of idiots. As soon as Flandre was out of sight though, the gentle smile on Meiling's face was replaced by a cold, emotionless stare. Reaching into her suit jacket's pocket, Meiling took out a thick envelope and gave it to Marisa. Marisa attempted to give it back to Meiling, but Meiling had already walked away and disappeared.

"…what was that about? China is usually more…hot blooded" noted Reimu as she looked at the envelope in Marisa's hand.

"As far as the Scarlet family is concerned, I'm Flandre's caretaker and as such they find it necessary to pay me a fair wage" Marisa answered with a deathly serious, mature tone of voice Reimu had never heard from her Marisa. "So their daughter is only worth 1.2 million yen to them, huh…Fucking pathetic."

"You want to be paid more? That's more like the Marisa I know."

Marisa turned around to face Reimu before punching her in the gut. Reimu had fought others in hand to hand combat before, but the force this 'normal' Marisa had behind her punch was absolutely demonic. Reimu knew that given her current condition, wheezing and struggling to breath, she had pushed the wrong button.

"Flandre is _priceless_, understand? Why can't they see how blessed they are to have such an amazing daughter?" Marisa screamed out. She caught the attention of several students only for them to scurry away when they saw her face. "Please forget everything you've heard and seen; this is none of your business. I'll see you in class…"

As if Reimu could forget being suckered punch in the gut.

_~Border of Fantasy~_

Reimu woke up in a room much different from her own. She had recently changed the layout of her room on a whim, opting for a more Western appearance; taking everything out of the room, save for a futon and gohei, was not part of her renovation. Still unsteady on her feet due to being groggy, Reimu made her way to a nearby closet to get something besides a camisole and bloomers to wear. She quickly found that the closet was just as Spartan as the room, only three sets of clothes held within. She chose the most 'normal' looking of the three (the other two outfits were a simple red and white kimono and…lace undergarments?) and changed into it.

"What a weird dream…"

She walked around the shrine, distressed at the horrid condition of it all. She could understand weathering and damage due to aging; structural failure due to _rotting wood_? Not so much. Strangely overcome by the desire to eat even though she was dreaming, Reimu made her way over to the kitchen. Upon entering she spotted her friend Marisa who, for some reason, was cosplaying as some kind of witch.

"Marisa, I didn't know you cosplay…I don't recognize that character though…"

"Cos…play? The hell are you talking about, ze? I always wear this," Marisa replied, "You alright, Reimu?"

"…you haven't called me that in ages."

"What? By 'Reimu'? I remember calling you by that yesterday and the day before that and the day-"

"Ok, ok, I get it…This is weird…Is this a dream?"

"Fu fu fu…How exciting…Marisa dear, it would seem we have a very special guest~."

Marisa whirled about to see Yukari poking her head out of a gap upside down from the ceiling. While Marisa wasn't surprised by the sight, common as it was, the dimensionally displaced Reimu was. Reimu did not yelp nor scream in terror at the sight; she merely looked at Yukari with a blank look on her face.

For her part, Yukari smiled and titled her head slightly to the side.

"Screw weird, you _have_ to tell me how you can do that!" Reimu blurted out after a few moments of silence.

"Oh I'm so happy an Outsider has taken an interest in me~! Come, Reimu, I have much to teach you~!" cheerfully cried Yukari as she attempted to spirit away Reimu.

"_What the hell did you do to Reimu, ze?_" Marisa angrily yelled out as she kept Reimu from walking into a gap Yukari created for her.

"But this isn't Reimu…Not our beloved shrine maiden Reimu anyway" Yukari retorted with a childish pout on her face.

"I don't know about 'beloved'," Marisa said as she rolled her eyes at the thought of anyone, Yukari aside, taking a liking to Reimu, "But I'm pretty sure this is Reimu; who else could she possibly be anyway?"

"Reimu…Outsider Reimu that is~!" Yukari cried out as she continued her attempts at spiriting away Reimu.

"So where's our Reimu then?" a frustrated Marisa asked Yukari.

"Don't look at me. This is as much a surprise for me as it is for you…a very pleasant and welcome surprise~!"

"What the hell! You're the _overseer_ of the Great Hakurei Boundary! How the hell can you not know when someone from either side passes it?"

"Oh, I don't know…_Maybe because they didn't_" Yukari replied making sure that the last bit was emphasized.

"…WHAT. THE. FUCK.," Marisa said at her wits' end, no longer even trying to comprehend anything else that came out of Yukari's mouth. "…Fine! Bring her along with you, but I'm coming with; there's no way in hell I'm leaving a defenseless Outsider, especially Reimu's outside world counterpart, alone with you."

Yukari reluctantly agreed and let Marisa pass through the gap along with Reimu before muttering,

"…Stupid lesbian witch…Is your harem not enough for you…?"

"Goddamn it! For the last time, I'm not a lesbian! Why can't I have close female friends without people immediately thinking I'm in love with them?" cried out a frustrated Marisa.

_~Border of Fantasy~_

"…So then, did you understand everything I taught you?" Marisa asked Reimu.

"Pretty much," replied Reimu, "By the way, thanks for letting me stay at your house."

"We can't have you hanging around the shrine. It's one of the first places people go to if there's an Incident and that's only because they want Reimu, _our_ Reimu, to fix things" Marisa explained.

"Ok, so correct me if I'm wrong…"

"Go on, ze."

"The people of Gensokyo fight using the Spellcard Duelling System. It's a non-lethal form (usually) of magical duelling used to resolve problems. This is to ensure that the participants are on equal playing fields regardless of who or what they are; it also conveniently keeps casualties to a bare minimum (though property damage is still pretty high)."

"Huh…You learn fast, ze…Ah, sorry, I interrupted you!" commented Marisa before letting Reimu continued.

"Oh it's alright. Anyway…Rather than casting the usual magic or using some kind of inherent ability, Spellcards are used instead. Spellcards act as a medium through which one can attack or defend without endangering the life of another. There are two ways to defeat another person's Spellcard. One way is to break it by causing the Spellcard's user to lose their focus making them unable to sustain the Spellcard. The other way is to 'survive' where one, following the specific rules laid out beforehand, avoids getting hit long enough to outlast the duration of the Spellcard."

"Good, you got the theory down, ze…How about some simple practice, ze?" Marisa suggested as she pulled out three of her Spellcards.

"No holding back this time" Reimu said as she took out three of her own Spellcards.

"First person to be hit directly five times loses," stated Marisa as she flew up into the sky, "Any objections?"

Reimu replied by flying up to where Marisa was and nodded her confirmation. While Reimu had been taught by Marisa how to fly (something that amused her to no end) and the basics of Spellcard duels, she had only had two occasions of actual practice. The first time was against Marisa who was just trying to give Reimu a feel for it and the second time was against Yukari, her Shikigami and her Shikigami's Shikigami who were teaching her about spatial awareness. She had lost both duels naturally, but that didn't change the fact that she had as much potential as her counterpart from Gensokyo.

Marisa got down to business right away and charged at Reimu. Reimu easily evaded it by flying off to the side, but she kept a careful eye on the trail of magical, star-shaped projectiles heading towards her. Rather than just focusing on the nearest projectiles, Reimu tried to get the 'bigger picture', as Yukari put it. She quickly identified the trajectories of many of the projectiles and planned a path through it. Marisa was surprised at how quickly Reimu was improving since Reimu was easily flying through her cloud of star danmaku with relative ease. Marisa wasn't one to just stand around and watch her opponent though. She called forth a quartet of magic circles to fire a dozen magic 'missiles' at her student. The missiles flew straight and true, striking their target and detonating into an explosion of green star danmaku.

"First hi- What the?"

This was Marisa's reaction when she realized that Reimu, of all people, had _gapped_ right behind her without Yukari's help. Reimu retaliated by calling forth a quartet of familiars in the form of ethereal demonic eyes which fired a relentless barrage of lasers at the witch. Marisa quickly got her broom (which, oddly enough, isn't even responsible for her flight capabilities) up to dogfight speeds and began grazing the lasers. Realizing that firing at Marisa from a static position probably wasn't the best idea, Reimu and her familiars fly after the evasive witch. Reimu took advantage of the fact that her familiar didn't have to be anywhere near her to be controlled and so she used them to fire a barrage of large orb danmaku, forming a crossfire. The point behind it was to slow down Marisa by preventing her from flying in a straight line which was the fastest way to reach one's destination. Meanwhile, Reimu tailed Marisa from a slightly higher elevation where she fired off a few homing lasers to further slow the nimble witch. In a desperate attempt to shake the familiars off, Marisa pulled straight up and stopped flying. This allowed her to quickly fall past the pursuing familiars and their barrage, but it had an unfortunate consequence.

"Fantasy Sign 'Fantasy Seal -Pursuit-'!" cried out Reimu.

Her familiars exploded in a burst of rainbow light before each of them turned into seven lasers. Marisa once again found herself being pursued only this time Reimu's lasers were more like their outside world counterparts in that they were moving much faster than most danmaku; even Youmu or Aya would be hard-pressed to outrun them. Rather than try and outpace Reimu's lasers, Marisa instead opted to throw out several magic bombs. The bombs acted like a defensive screen, taking the hits meant for Marisa.

Except for one.

One laser managed to weave through her defensive screen of bombs and landed a solid blow on her right shoulder. Marisa winced as the laser seemed to strike with more force than usual danmaku. She brought her hand to her shoulder to rub the sore spot only to find it wet. Bringing her hand before her, she found it was dyed red with blood; it wasn't just her hand either, but her dress as well. Seeing Marisa's startled expression, Reimu flew down to see if Marisa was alright only for her to gasp at what she had done.

"Marisa-!"

"I'm fine, it's just a flesh wound…I'll just go pester Alice or Patchouli to patch it up for me" Marisa said dismissively as she held her handkerchief to it.

Reimu would have none of it of course. She held her hand against Marisa's wound as she channeled whatever magic was at her disposal to heal the wound. Reimu's hand first glowed gold, then a sky blue before settling into an almost invisible violet hue. Marisa initially winced at the pain (this Reimu was an amateur at magic after all), but it quickly faded away and even that was replaced by a subtle feeling of pleasure. As far as Marisa was concerned it was like an injury in reverse; pain first then normalcy with the small pleasurable feeling at the end akin to a comforting mother's kiss.

"Well, I'll be damned, you can heal, ze," Marisa noted as she moved her shoulder, "Not even our Reimu is that proficient with it, ze."

"I'm so sorry! I-I must have lost control of my Spellcard…"

"It's fine…Really! It's not your-"

"…fault."

While Marisa was busy trying to console Reimu, Yukari flew out of a gap. She inspected the area where Marisa had been injured, poking and prodding it to see if Reimu's healing spell would come undone.

It didn't.

"Oh my, not even a day and you already have a grasp on basic boundary manipulation!" cheered Yukari as she held Reimu and Marisa in an embrace and nuzzled them both.

"Boundary manipulation? But she's a Hakurei!" cried out Marisa.

"Yes, but she's not one of our Hakurei. Since she lives in a world where magic is dormant, her magic is easily impressionable. If she had instead seen your Master Spark at work before my boundary manipulation, you wouldn't be here right now; you would have been slain by your own special Spellcard."

"Shouldn't Spellcard duels be non-lethal? For that matter, I shouldn't have even gotten an injury like that in the first place; only weapons and non-magical based danmaku should be able to inflict injury during a Spellcard duel" inquired Marisa whose curiosity got the better of her.

That and she wanted to forget that Yukari could grope her at any time.

…not that there's much to grope anyway…

"Her magic is as foreign to us as ours is to hers; the mere fact that her lasers weren't going at the speed of light and tearing through you and your defensive screen was proof of that" Yukari explained in a serious tone of voice.

"Then the reason you wanted to keep her out of Incidents wasn't because you were afraid for her safety…"

"…you were afraid I'd kill someone" Reimu finished in a morbid tone.

"Joking around and tagging people with harmless bursts of magic is fine, even for you, but your mind interprets Spellcard duels as battles to the death. As a result, your magic puts your safety above all else…" Yukari began.

"…and the best way to do that is to kill whatever is threatening you…" concluded Marisa.

"However, that doesn't mean I want you cooped up in the witch's house all the time fearing for other people's safety. Go out and experiment with Spellcard duels more; since this is a problem caused by one's state of mind then if you change that you won't have to worry~," encouraged Yukari, "And don't worry, witch, I'll pay for any damage that results."

"I have a name, you know," Marisa said with a sigh. "Are you sure about this though, Reimu?"

"It's fine, I have to get used to this; I might never be able to get back home and neither might your Reimu. If there's no one to maintain the Barrier and the peace around here then what?"

Marisa frowned slightly before letting her infectious grin return. "If you say you can handle it then I don't see why not!"

"I know one thing though…" Reimu said in a serious tone.

"What is it?" both blondes asked.

"Truly I'm in for one hell of a time."

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: I've recently gotten Writer's Block trying to work further on To the Worlds Beyond! so I decided to try my hand at another piece until such a time where I can continue to work on my main fanfic at a smoother pace. This fanfic was originally supposed to be a Haruhi Suzumiya x Touhou crossover, but that idea wasn't working out so I just went with a pure Touhou fanfic. That doesn't mean there won't be shout outs and references galore since Outsiders (ie. us) are involved. If you have any questions, concerns or comments on this story simply leave a review or pm me personally. Just note that I don't log in often so I apologize ahead of time if my response isn't as hasty as you would like.<p>

This is Daemon signing out.

...oh, mind the gap on your way out.


	3. Fun With Numbers Arc Stage II

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

Even though ZUN is but one man (a one man army of awesome, but one man nevertheless), lives in Japan and whose name is clearly not Alice.

But ZUN is awesome so who really give a crap?

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Fun With Numbers Arc<em>

Stage 2: Of History and Bloomers

"…"

Reimu looked down at a sheet of paper. From top to bottom, front to back, it was littered with red X's that were starting to seem like they were penned with her own blood. She had anticipated a result like this; she wasn't an idiot, sure, but having to learn an entirely different world's history in five minutes before a test? Even her amazing talents had limits; she was only human after all.

"I must say, Hakurei-san, I'm not sure whether I should be disappointed, shocked, facepalming or going 'What in God's name just happened?'" her teacher said to her.

Keine Kamishirasawa, or Keine-sensei as everyone (teachers included) called her, had asked Reimu to stay behind for a few minutes after classes. The well-loved, and equally feared, young teacher had always been proud of Reimu as she excelled in nearly every subject the curriculum had to offer. For her to so suddenly and completely fail a simple test out of the blue…Keine-sensei debated whether she should try to peer into the history of her ace student or not; given what she does on the side, getting such information shouldn't be too difficult. Keine-sensei was about to start interrogating Reimu when Marisa came barging into the classroom.

"I-I'm sorry I lied, Keine-sensei!" a flustered Marisa blurted out while bowing at a near ninety degree angle.

"L-Lie? About what?" Keine-sensei asked back in response.

"She isn't Reimu Hakurei," Marisa lied as she pointed towards Reimu, "Her real name…is…uh…_Reiko_! Reiko Hakurei!"

"Bullshit" gritted out Keine-sensei before realizing she was slipping back into old habits. "Err…I mean, that's obviously a lie, Kirisame-san; I am most disappointed that you can't even be honest with me…"

"Yeah, you suck at lying; at least the Marisa I know can lie decently enough" Reimu added.

"_Well_, I'm _so_ sorry I'm trying to cover for you," Marisa said to Reimu with obvious venom in her tone, "At least I'm trying to make a good cover story for you Ms. I-Can-Use-Magic-And-Exterminate-Youkai! God, you're such an asshole compared to Rei-chan!"

"Well too bad you lesbian bitch, I'm not your nice and quiet shrine maiden friend/crush. If you want to fuck her so badly, why don't you get off your ass and try to learn magic; all of you so called 'normal' people here have plenty anyway!" Reimu yelled back.

"ENOUGH!" Keine-sensei's voice boomed and echoed throughout the almost entirely deserted school. Marisa was completely taken aback by this side of Keine-sensei that she had never seen before while Reimu never realized just how scary Keine could potentially be.

Regaining her composure and using a kinder tone of voice, Keine asked, "If you're not Hakurei-san then you are…?"

"Reimu Hakurei." Keine-sensei was confused to say the least, but everything made a lot more sense when Reimu performed a basic feat of magic (by Gensokyo standards anyway) and started flying around the room.

"Hmm…I wonder…Uhm, never mind that! So where's our Hakurei-san then?"

"She's probably in my Gensokyo; most likely spirited away by Yukari…but why did she dump me here then…?" Reimu wondered to herself. "…and don't think I'm done with you yet, you melodramatic bitch!"

"Bring it, asshole!" Marisa responded taking out her Tasers and letting them crackle.

"I would suggest both of you save it for later or else I'll gladly kick _both_ of your asses…Now then, Hakurei-san, do you know when you two swapped places?"

"While we were both asleep I guess…That gap hag must have used her boundary manipulation…"

Keine-sensei remained silent for a few minutes before taking out a notepad and scribbling down something onto it. Keine-sensei then turned the note pad around so both girls could see what it was that she scribbled. Marisa, never having met Yukari Yakumo, the Border of Phantasm, understandably could not make heads or tails of the image presented before her and was understandably disturbed by the seemingly demonic drawing. Reimu, on the other hand, knew exactly what the image was though it disturbed her as much as it did Marisa…albeit for completely different reasons- she still couldn't purge the memory of Yukari opening a gap in her bath so she could watch her.

"This is how the magic of the Witch of Boundaries supposedly manifests. It has been described as a black, endless abyss whose sole residents are the Witch herself and these golden demonic eyes. Having extensively researched the history of the region of Gensokyo, both factual and mythological, this Witch of the Boundaries is an unusual anomaly…" explained Keine-sensei.

Keine-sensei explained that written records about the region of Gensokyo span back centuries; this wasn't really a surprise to any of the three females present. Elaborating further, Keine-sensei said that up to a certain point both fact and 'fiction' were written together as one rather than being separate. Marisa proposed that the reason for this was because the people of the region slowly began to lose belief in the supernatural and therefore fact and 'fiction' were separated into historical records and legends respectively. Reimu further supported Marisa's theory stating that in order for her Gensokyo to exist the people of the outside world must actively _disbelieve_ the fantastical and separating fact and 'fiction' and therefore separating fact and 'fiction' was necessary especially since the timing coincided with the creation of her Gensokyo. At first it seemed as if the trio had come to consensus when it was suddenly broken by Reimu.

"Wait, golden demonic eyes? The eyes in Yukari's void are red. Do you think it was just a typo or perhaps someone screwed up the records somewhere along the line?" questioned Reimu.

"Most definitely not; the Kamishirasawa and Hieda families have ensured that all records of Gensokyo are accurate. If one of our paintings show the Witch of Boundaries having golden demonic eyes in her void then they were gold" defended Keine-sensei.

This time it was Marisa's turn to question Keine-sensei. "But how could you ensure that? We're only human after all, ze."

"Well…I can't really go into too much detail, not right now anyway, but trust me when I say that any records kept by the Hieda family or my own are one hundred percent accurate."

"Then we're dealing with two completely different people here," surmised Reimu, "I think I can actually say for once that Yukari…really didn't do anything; she's completely and utterly innocent…this time around anyway…"

"So then who's the Witch of Boundaries?" Marisa asked out of curiosity.

"…we're not really sure. She only appears briefly in either of the region of Gensokyo's True Records and not once is her name mentioned. Her appearance coincides with the separation of fact and 'fiction' from standard records as well…Hmm, perhaps I should look into it…Anyway, back to the reason why you're here, Hakurei-san. I will be assigning you a tutor for History, one Akyu Hieda. Given what you've learned in this conversation she'll be of great use to you if you wish to maintain the illusion of being 'Reimu Hakurei'…That and your attitude could use some work…"

"I'm not making myself a nice, quiet doormat just to keep up appearances. I am who I am and there's not a damn thing you can do to change it. If you two are so concerned about me just say that I'm going through a rebellious phase or something…" Reimu stated to confirm she was resolute in _not_ adopting a cover story for her sudden change.

Marisa was about to refuse that suggestion outright before Keine-sensei cut in. "Perhaps it would be better that way, Kirisame-san. If she acts as she always does it would be much easier to explain it away as some kind of phase, something temporary, rather than trying to devise a flawed cover story on such short notice; it wouldn't be fun if our Hakurei-san suddenly came back now would it?"

"Urk…I guess you've got a point…So is that it then, ze?"

"Yes, both of you are dismissed. Although, Hakurei-san, if you're willing to share about the history of your world I'll gladly listen" offered Keine-sensei.

Apparently ignoring Keine-sensei's offer, Reimu grabbed Marisa by her wrist and told her, "Move; I want to buy some bloomers before I go home."

With a sigh of resignation, Marisa woefully murmured, "Rei-chan, come back~!"

**-Border of Reality-**

"…so this is where I can buy bloomers, correct?" Reimu asked Marisa suspiciously.

"Yeah, ze."

"…given the…selection, do you think I might be able to find a sarashi here as well?"

"…don't ask me, ze" Marisa said with a dejected tone of voice. The mere fact that she looked down at her chest and then over to Reimu's more…developed figure…she had a perfectly good reason as to why she wouldn't know if the store stocked sarashis.

"…whatever, if you don't want to help me then I'll just go buy them myself."

With that Reimu entered the store where a saleswoman kindly offered her assistance. Not having much else to do, Marisa figured she could get started on her homework while she waited for Reimu. Her plan worked well initially, getting all of the reading she was assigned completed and she even read ahead, bookmarking any important points. Now that she was dealing with a dimensionally displaced Reimu maybe she could pull ahead and show this Reimu she wasn't just going to settle for second place; not even for her. Of course, the operative term being 'initially' as a familiar face crashed into the diligently studying Marisa.

"Onee-sama~!"

Her voice eternally cheerful, Flandre dive-glomped a completely unaware Marisa, almost knocking her off the bench she was sitting on. Much like a cat having found its master, Flandre proceeded to caress Marisa with the side of her face. Any suspicious or lewd stares given to them went unnoticed as Marisa was more preoccupied with how to get Flandre off her so she could breath and Flandre just plain didn't care. Unnoticed by Marisa, and long since forgotten by Flandre, was Meiling the bodyguard, a green trimmed black shadow that followed Flandre everywhere she went. She regarded the two with a cold, emotionless stare though she secretly wanted to just _squee_ at the sight.

'_The two of them…together…HNNGGG_' Meiling thought to herself complete with mental nosebleed…however that works…

"Ah, Meiling-san, what brings you two here, ze?" cheerfully greeted Marisa after she managed to get Flandre off her and seating the girl on her lap.

Meiling went red and gazed over towards the lingerie store that Reimu entered earlier. Marisa was perplexed initially until she gazed down at her young friend who was nuzzling her chest. When her eyes managed to finally locate Flandre's chest, something skin to breaking glass could be heard in Marisa's mind as…_something_ broke within.

'_You have _got_ to be kidding me…Even hers are bigger than mine!_'

"Lady Scarlet is a developing young woman and as such requires certain…things now" Meiling said, phrasing it in such a way so as not to bluntly say, 'Training bra isn't enough; need bigger bra'.

"Say, say, Onee-sama, wanna help me pick out a new one…please~?" pleaded Flandre with a childishly innocent tone that did nothing to conceal the fact that she wanted to spend time with Marisa even if it meant shopping for underwear.

"S-Sure…anything for you, Flandre!" Marisa answered, doing her best to suppress the fact that she was _jealous_, of all things, at how Flandre was developing.

And so Marisa entered with Meiling and Flandre, facing her insecurities head on.

…right as Reimu exited thoroughly satisfied with her purchases.

"What the? Where did that witch go…?"

**-Border of Reality-**

"_Waiter_, can you take my order~?" Reimu called out with a strong emphasis on the gender 'waiter' implied.

"Can I take your order?" asked Wriggle before adding, "_Just try and push your luck, miko…Go ahead. _Try_._"

Many of the patrons had all seen this scene before at one point or another and had even been the perpetrators at some point as well. They, of course, stopped as soon as they realized just how much of a sore point it was for the poor girl. As a result, nearly all the patrons have made sure to address Wriggle as waitress despite her choice of dress. Sadly (or unfortunately depending on the person), some find it funny to refer to Wriggle as a male even though her gender was more or less well known. While these were mainly delinquents who received just retribution from their victim, the thing that truly shocked the patrons was _who_ was picking on the poor girl.

"Hmm, actually I've changed my mind, _waiter_" Reimu answered.

The patrons knew this was going to happen eventually, but to say Wriggle snapped would be an understatement. They've seen her pissed; hell, some have even seen her in action and proceeded to buy new pants and underwear. For her to react so openly at work?

Not so much.

Reimu found herself stunned as she was soaked from head to toe after Wriggle had emptied an entire pitcher of water over her. Reimu didn't take too kindly to being soaked, but having dealt with a flirtatious Yukari and hormonal teenage Outsiders she knew she could still salvage the situation. Walking up to one of the restaurant's waitresses, Reimu took another pitcher full of water and dumped it on Wriggle. Wriggle tried to punch Reimu out only for Reimu to easily evade the punch.

She made a mental note to thank Suika later…wherever she was.

In a fluid grace of motion, Reimu got behind Wriggle, wrapped her arms around Wriggle's waist and breathed down the nape of her neck. Wriggle let out a sensual moan and ended up leaning back on Reimu. Now that Wriggle was fully leaning into her, Reimu realized just the vast difference between this Wriggle and the one back in her home. The Wriggle she knew was androgynous; hence all the 'Wriggle is a boy' jokes. The Wriggle that was currently in her embrace was still somewhat androgynous, but it was fairly obvious that wouldn't last for much longer as she was quickly starting to be more feminine in appearance. Wanting to tease her just a little further, Reimu nibbled on Wriggle's ear just as Yukari had done to Reimu on numerous occasions. Wriggle let out another moan before Reimu tried to start up another conversation.

"Such a cute boy…Would you like to go out on a date with senpai?"

"S-s-stupid miko, I'm a girl! And _no_, I'm not like that!" Wriggle yelled out as she tried to break free of Reimu's embrace.

"Oh, I know; you're rather pretty for a guy, but I don't mind that~. Perhaps you'd like me to teach you what it's like to be a man~?"

Reimu's hand started moving down lower, but she never had a chance to finish what she started. Poor Wriggle had all she could take and let out a scream that affirmed her gender. Her sudden scream startled Reimu long enough to let her go where upon release she ran off crying, half insulted and half embarrassed. Upon snapping out of her reverie, Reimu took a quick glance around the patrons. Many of them were not really sure how to react; some were understandably aroused while others seemed to be internally debating whether what Reimu had done was a grave insult or genuine confusion of Wriggle's gender.

"Manager…Can…Can you call her back…? I believe I owe her an apology…"

The manager, a muscularly built man with bubble-gum pink hair, complied albeit grudgingly. Though the manager was only gone for a minute at most, it felt like an eternity for Reimu. She hadn't really ever found the need to apologize before; usually she made up for her mistakes by simply having a Spellcard duel and purposely losing it so as to let the offended party vent their anger and frustrations. In a world where the Spellcard Duelling System didn't exist, Reimu was actually _afraid_ at how she was going to deal with the situation; she wasn't really one to use words to solve her problems.

"Y-Yes, how can I be of service…?" Wriggle asked while she wiped away a few stray tears and regaining her composure.

"I-I-I'm…"

"I see…You just called me back to make fun-"

"_I've never apologized to anyone before so I'm sorry I can't say 'sorry'!_" Reimu blurted out as she bowed as deeply as she could.

Wriggle stood there dumbfounded.

Then she snickered.

Then she _laughed_.

"That's the weirdest apology…Ever…Of all time. Fine, whatever, you're forgiven just because you made my day" Wriggle said before breaking into another fit of laughter. "You've never made fun of me before though…"

"I've just been having an off day…Anyway, I'm not really hungry so I'm going to try and find Marisa now."

As Reimu was getting up from the table, Wriggle held her hand out in front of her. Reimu wasn't familiar with this particular ritual though she'd seen the Outsiders and the residents of the Scarlet Devil Mansion perform it before. Emulating what little of it she knew, Reimu shook the younger girl's hand.

"I don't think I've ever introduced myself before; I'm Wriggle Nightbug."

"Reimu Hakurei…again, sorry."

"If anything is ever bothering you feel free to talk to me; I have to listen to all the problems in my group of friends anyway…"

"Err…this might be a bit rude of me, but do you think you have a uniform I can borrow?" Reimu said to Wriggle as she tugged at her soaked clothing.

"Sure, we've got some extras in the back…"

**-Border of Reality-**

"Oh, Rei-nyan, there you are, ze!" greeted Marisa as she waved her over. "Huh? Is that…?"

"Yeah, somehow I got hired at the same restaurant that Wriggle works at…and you know what? This world is _weird_. I made fun of Wriggle, then she ran off crying and _then_ she came back and laughed…_at me_. Normal people are weird…"

"You'll get used to it, ze" Marisa replied.

"Thank you for your assistance, Kirisame-san" Meiling said as she bowed.

"So I can come over this weekend, right, Onee-sama~?" innocently asked Flandre.

"Did you ace your test today?" Marisa asked as if she really were Flandre's older sister.

"Yep~! I got a perfect score right, China~?"

"That you did, Lady Scarlet. Also, please don't call me by such a racially derogatory nickname; I'm not even Chinese…"

"Wait, you're not, ze?" Marisa asked rather taken aback by the revelation.

"Everybody seems to read my name as 'Hong Meiling'; it's actually read as 'Kurenai Misuzu'."

"Really? I thought 'Kurenai Misuzu' was the wrong way to read your name…" Reimu pondered.

"You learn something new everyday I guess. Come, Lady Scarlet, it wouldn't do to miss dinner…"

With that parting quote, Meiling and Flandre separated ways with Reimu and Marisa. With only the two of them remaining, Reimu and Marisa spent the next hour simply walking around the mall they were in. Marisa knew that as annoying as Reimu was, she still needed to know how to get around and where to get things that she may require later on. Reimu took it all in stride, quickly learning. One of the things that stood out for Reimu was the sheer amount of people. Back in Gensokyo, the population was small; the largest congregation of humans was within the Human Village and the number of people in the mall easily outnumbered the villagers. Though Reimu would never let Marisa know, Marisa could make out subtle hints in Reimu's actions that betrayed the fact that the large number of people made Reimu uncomfortable. Wanting to take Reimu's mind off things, Marisa led Reimu to the food court for dinner.

"…I hate how there's so many people…It makes me feel…I dunno…" murmured Reimu as she tried to find an appropriate word for what she felt.

"…Claustrophobic?" supplied Marisa, "You're not used to being surrounded by a lot of people are you, ze?"

"…Back home, the biggest group of humans you would ever run across were the villagers in the Human Village…Right now, there's probably more people in this mall than there is in Gensokyo…in terms of humans anyway…"

"What about youkai? Or the other denizens of Gensokyo?" inquired Marisa further.

"Oh there's lots of them; probably more than I can count. I only know a few dozen of them, but that's because they were involved in a lot of Incidents. In terms of youkai I have personal ties with I only know about four and one evil spirit."

"So those five are like your friends?" curiously asked Marisa.

"They're kinda my family I guess…If I were to equate them to a real family, Ran would be my mom, Yukari my flirty, conniving older sister, Chen my cute, annoying little sister, Suika my perpetually drunk, free-loader aunt and Mima my cool, big sis. As for friends…A lot of people think I'm their friend, but when it comes down to it the Marisa in my world is probably my only real friend…"

"Why only me- err, I mean Marisa?"

"She's probably one of the most annoying bitches I have ever met, second only to Yukari herself. She's constantly stealing my stuff, wrecking the shrine on a daily basis and just harassing me in general. I used to loathe the day we first met, but things change. The one time I was really sick when I was young, it was Marisa who gathered the ingredients and made a potion to help me feel better. I doubt she knows, but I saw how banged up and exhausted she was when she delivered that potion to me. Every time I feel like caving in her skull with my gohei, I always think back to that time…and she ends up with a bump on her head instead."

"So you feel like that was when you finally got a real glimpse at how Marisa thinks of you?"

"Pretty much; even if I still hated her, I'm still obliged to at least pay back that debt."

"Honestly," Marisa said before mirthfully chuckling, "If I didn't know better, you're a bonafide tsundere; sure you beat her up when she's just playing around with you, but you really care for her."

"I am _not_ a tsundere!" objected Reimu, "Wait…the hell is a tsundere?"

"Fu, fu, fu…to teach you much I have, young miko…" Marisa replied in a strange voice. Reimu thought it sounded familiar…like one of the movies she'd seen in Yukari's house.

"Enough joking around; I'm hungry so get me something to eat" ordered Reimu.

"Yes, my Lord" complied Marisa in a suave tone of voice. Reimu watched as Marisa got up and looked for food, but quickly lost interest. Finding a familiar trio of fairies-turned-human more interesting, Reimu didn't notice as Marisa returned with two trays of food and drinks in under a minute.

"Here is your food as you requested, my Lord."

"What the-? How'd you get back so fast?"

"I am simply one hell of a butler."

"You're doing something right now…_I just know you're trying to pull something on me right now!_" replied a pseudo-paranoid Reimu who had not the faintest idea that pop culture references were being thrown at her left and right.

Reimu continued eyeing Marisa suspiciously as she started eating. However, the very food she was eating quickly distracted her from Marisa's antics. Reimu recognized the strange food she was eating, but had no name for it. All she knew about it was that she had seen the leader of the Outsider settlement selling them at his booth in the Human Village's market. It consisted of a bun of bread sliced in the middle wherein laid a beef patty, several leaves of lettuce, a couple slices of tomatoes, a slice of cheese, a couple pickles, a few rings of onions and a trio of strange, foreign sauces. At the moment, there was only one thought in her mind.

That the strange food she was eating was damn tasty.

"Man, you down burgers faster than Saber Alter, ze" commented Marisa as she watched the poor burger disappear within the ravenous maw of the dimensionally displaced shrine maiden.

She briefly wondered to herself if this Reimu was a burger devouring youkai.

"More."

"Listen, I know burgers taste good, but if you eat too much you're gonna get fat" countered Marisa.

"I highly doubt that" Reimu responded remembering that she had what the other Marisa called a 'miracle metabolism'. She wasn't entirely sure what 'metabolism' was, but she knew that it affected how quickly her body could process food. Put simply, her metabolism was fast, as in 'faster than Youmu and Aya combined' fast.

As if a few dozen burgers would make her fat!

Thankfully, Marisa was spared having to give Reimu a lengthy lecture about how bad it was to eat so much fast food. Heading towards the exits was none other than Wriggle Nightbug. The former bug youkai overheard Marisa and Reimu arguing and decided she'd be better off not involving herself. Unfortunately for her there was a tradition that Reimu just so happened to remember. In Gensokyo, when an Incident is resolved there would always be a tea party where everyone who was involved would be invited. This was to symbolize the end of the Incident and that there would be no further hostilities…regarding the Incident anyway. Sadly for Wriggle, Reimu considered the events that unfolded earlier at the restaurant to be an Incident.

Of course, Reimu's true motives were far more sinister.

"Hey, Wriggle-chan, why don't you join us for dinner?" offered Reimu.

"Uhm…I'll have to decline, Hakurei-senpai" replied Wriggle. The poor girl desperately wracked her brain for an excuse to avoid going broke trying to satisfy the ravenous miko.

"It's tradition back home for me to have tea (or burgers…preferably burgers) with the offended party as an act of goodwill" Reimu said to her truthfully, but keeping her motive a secret.

'_Bullshit, you just want me to buy you burgers!_' Wriggle thought to herself, "I promised I'd make dinner for Mystia…yeah…"

"That restaurant you work at-"

"That _we_ work at-"

"…was called _Lorelei_, right? Now why, of all people, would Mystia need someone to make dinner for her?"

'_Crap._'

This is why Wriggle is often associated with Cirno's group.

"…fine, but I'm not buying you any burgers" Wriggle said to compromise.

"Tsk…very well then. Marisa, get the two of us drinks!" imperiously ordered Reimu.

"I was kidding about the '…being one hell of a butler' thing before, but yeah, give me a sec, ze…"

"Is it fine to impose like this on Kirisame-senpai…?" worriedly asked Wriggle.

"She's being funded by Yukari; trust me, it's fine."

Reimu made sure to pay attention to where Marisa went to buy the tasty morsel known as a 'burger'. Both she and Wriggle watched intently as Marisa went about ordering their dinner. Wriggle went bug-eyed, mind the pun, when she heard her senpai order a dozen burgers for Reimu; apparently, so did the clerk. With three trays of food and drink in hand, Marisa returned to their table and set out a dozen burgers in front of Reimu.

"If you won't believe me, I'll just make you see for yourself" Marisa told Reimu, defeated.

"My words exactly" answered Reimu as she set out to devour more burgers.

Wriggle wasn't sure when she stopped eating, but she definitely stopped eating. Her attention was squarely on the shrine maiden who was eating burgers like a madwoman. One after another the burgers disappeared into her mouth, never to be seen again. Wriggle wondered to herself if her senpai had some kind of eldritch abomination in her stomach that was making her eat so much. Soon Reimu's attention was back on Marisa and Wriggle as she was out of burgers to eat.

"What?" questioned Reimu as she wiped away a bit of ketchup off her lips.

"You're…hungry, aren't you?" Wriggle asked, not entirely sure what to make of her senpai's voracious appetite.

"People eat when they are hungry."

Marisa couldn't help but snicker at the reference Reimu just dropped without any idea.

"Anyway, it's getting late so we should head back home, Rei-nyan" suggested Marisa as she looked at her watch.

"Crap! My dad is gonna be pissed if I don't get home soon!" blurted out Wriggle, "Thanks for the meal, Kirisame-senpai, Hakurei-senpai; see you tomorrow!"

One thanks and farewell later, the former bug youkai was gone, a burger held fast in her mouth.

"Ah, a warm bath will do nicely after such a nice meal…and I can't wait to be able to wear bloomers again!" stated Reimu, "Wait…why did you say 'we' instead of 'I'…?"

"You heard Yagokoro-sensei; I'm not letting you stay home by yourself."

"Fine, but you're not coming into the bath with me!"

"Yes, my Lord."

_~Border of Fantasy~_

"…_Wow_."

Marisa couldn't believe her eyes. The sight that awaited her after she came home from an afternoon in Patchy's library was not normal.

It was better than normal.

Marisa, aside from being known as the Ordinary Witch, was also known as the Thieving Witch. This was due to the fact that she had a nasty habit of taking things that didn't belong to her, especially if they were things that belonged to youkai. Her reasoning for this was that she was technically only 'borrowing' from her victims since, being human, she would die someday and the youkai could take their stuff back. What most people never bothered to wonder was exactly _what_ Marisa does with the stolen items. Many thought that she had a secretly library that rivaled the Scarlet Devil Mansion's Voile Library hence why she often steals books. Others thought perhaps the witch traded stolen items for rare or precious reagents she normally wouldn't be able to acquire on her own. There were also those who thought maybe she was just another hoarder. All of them have one thing is common though…

They were all right…except the ones who thought she traded what she stole for rare and precious reagents.

As if liberal use of her Master Spark couldn't get that task accomplished…

As a result, her house was a mess. If the witch ever had a method of organizing all her things, she either abandoned it at some point or was so inundated by the sheer volume of materiel in her home that she just didn't care. This was how innumerable piles of miscellaneous items came to be scattered throughout her home. So haphazardly were they strewn about that a legendary artefact could be buried under a pile of discarded candy wrappers. This mess did serve as an excellent defensive system though; just as a legendary artefact could be buried under all the junk, so could a trap. Even if one could bypass the traps that were laid, they would still have to deal with the fact that the very piles themselves are dangerous.

But back to what was before Marisa.

One of the first things she noticed was the floor; she could actually see it and it was clean.

Sparkling clean.

She walked around her home and found that every room, every nook and cranny, was just as clean, if not cleaner, than the floor. It made her wonder where all of the things she had 'borrowed' went.

"Welcome back, Marisa" greeted Reimu.

"Did you clean out my house, ze?"

"Yeah, I did! Check it out; I made a list of all the treasures I found inside!"

"Oh, that sounds interesting, ze…Mind if I read it, ze?"

"Here you go!"

_One original Holy Grail._

_One Excalibur sheathed in Avalon._

_A pair of spears (Gae Bolg and Gae Daerg)._

_A pair of Chinese falchions (Kanshou and Bakuya)._

_One Rule Breaker._

_The One Ring._

_One Raising Heart Excellion._

_One Knightmare Frame._

_Yuri H-doujins (Sorry, lost count)._

"All of this stuff was in my house, ze?"

"That and a lot more; took me all afternoon to clean it out. Consider it my apology for hurting you earlier."

"Hey, I said that wasn't your fault; even Yukari said it wasn't your fault, ze."

"Yeah…but still…"

Marisa laughed as she placed a hand on Reimu's shoulder. "If I ever got my Reimu to clean my house, I'd be deader than dead. I'm thankful that you cleaned up the mess, really, but do it because you wanted to, not to make up for something you aren't guilty of. How did you get past all my wards anyway, ze?"

"According to Yukari, my magic is really good for taking things apart and putting them back together; that was how I managed to heal you earlier. I just put what she taught me to use so I could take apart your wards without hurting myself."

"So where's all my-"

"_Their-_"

"…stuff? I checked my workshop and garden, but there was nothing out of the ordinary there; except that it was clean, ze…"

"Have you ever heard of the _Epic of Gilgamesh_?" Reimu asked.

"It sounds familiar…I think there was a book named that in Rinnosuke's shop…"

"Hmm, that'll take you some time to read through that…Just use Google instead; use the keywords 'GILGAMESH', 'FATE', 'STAY' and 'NIGHT'. You'll see where all that stuff went."

"Google? What's that, ze?"

"Fu, fu, fu…to teach you much I have, young witch…" stated Reimu in a strange voice that reminded Marisa of a movie she watched with Rinnosuke once.

_~Border of Fantasy~_

"…this is- yeah, just _wow_. It's like the ultimate grimoire…Is this the reason why Yukari is so powerful?" Marisa asked as she looked up Gilgamesh on Google.

"Probably not, but it certainly does open up a lot of possibilities with her power doesn't it?" responded Reimu.

"Ah, found that 'Wikipedia' page you told me to find…Let's see…Gilgamesh…King of Babylon…also known as the 'King of Heroes'…uses the Noble Phantasm 'Gates of Babylon'…treasury of all prototype Noble Phantasms? Wait…_you stole the Gates of Babylon?_" Marisa cried out in shock.

"Technically, Yukari stole it for me, but yes, I basically stole it. It's not like Gil actually needs it anyway; he's always got his Wave Motion Sword, Ea" Reimu replied nonchalantly.

"You stole an entire treasury of legendary weapons and artefacts from history's first king…I feel like I should scold you, but I'm too damn proud of you right now; son, I am _not_ disappoint."

"Thanks, dad" Reimu replied in jest.

_~Border of Fantasy~_

Time passed by quickly for the witch and the dimensionally displaced miko as they surfed the web. Reimu made a mental note to herself to get a cookie for remembering to ask Yukari to hook up the computer she found in Marisa's house to the internet. The only thing that bothered Reimu was that Marisa wouldn't stop referring to the internet as a grimoire; then again, considering the vast wealth of information one can access from the internet, it may as well be.

Who knows? There may be actual grimoires lurking around the Net somewhere…

However, all fun times come to an end. Marisa's attention was averted from the computer when she heard the clock downstairs toll for the fourth time which meant it was already 10 o'clock at night. Reimu walked the technologically inept (for now) Marisa through the process of shutting down her new computer. After promising the pouting witch that they would read through her new 'grimoire' again tomorrow Reimu made her way over to the bath.

She was glad that despite the differences between the East and the West, baths were still the relatively the same. Now free of junk and cleaned till it shone, Reimu was once again reminded of how grandiose Marisa's small cottage was. She had to give credit where it was due though; while Reimu's grasp on magic was basic, she knew that manipulating space to make a small house bigger inside was probably no easy feat. While some parts of Marisa's house were fairly simple despite its size, the bathroom was one of the exceptions. The floor was composed of obsidian which had been smoothed down to the point where it looked more like a black mirror. The walls and ceiling were made of the same refined obsidian material, but were trimmed with gold. Due to the reflective surfaces, reflections reflected themselves on and on creating an 'infinite hallway' effect.

As if the bathroom wasn't big enough.

After filling the bathtub with hot water, Reimu stepped in and let the stresses of the day be washed away. She wondered to herself how she wound up in this situation. The life she led up till now wasn't an easy one, true, but she didn't hate it either. Between the shrine upkeep and dealing with her flirtatious, lesbian friend, she had a lot to deal with, but it kept her busy and most of all, happy. While a change of pace was always appreciated to break the monotony, she wasn't expecting it to be like this. Her world of logic and peace gave way to this world of the fantastical and hectic activity. Normally, she would have focused on getting her schoolwork done with Marisa and making sure her step-mother was eating healthy.

Now those very same people were teaching her magic.

Truly it had been, and will be, a hell of a time.

Satisfied and relaxed, she dried herself off with a towel Marisa provided her and changed into her nightwear. Reimu managed to find the time to sneak back into the shrine where Yukari helped her take back her counterpart's entire wardrobe. Looking at her reflection on the wall, Reimu had to wonder why a sarashi and bloomers were her counterpart's choice underwear and nightwear. Reimu herself had quite a comfortable selection of night gowns (and thanks to her stepmom, racy, lacy ones as well). Upon serious thought, Reimu decided that the reason the other Reimu preferred sarashis and bloomers was because she was much more conservative than her. As for the mix of Eastern and Western style underwear, she reasoned that was because the other Reimu's parents were of mixed heritage and chose to blend the two cultures together.

Marisa was a Japanese Western witch so why not, right?

As dressed as she was going to get so late at night, Reimu headed downstairs to join Marisa for dinner. She saw her new friend setting out a bowl of stew made from local game and fauna. Praying to her shrine's deity that her new friend was just as good at cooking as Marisa, she sat herself at the table and gave thanks. She brought a small spoonful of the stew to her mouth and found her new friend's food to be, thankfully, just as good. She continued to eat her stew at a slow pace to ensure she was relishing the unique, but pleasant, flavors. Whereas Reimu ate her stew with bread, she noticed Marisa would fill a strange bowl-shaped mushroom with her stew and then would eat it. It wasn't a foreign concept to Reimu though as she remembered seeing on the internet once of a particular fast food chain in Canada that served its soups and stew in bowls made of tasty bread. Not one to pass up unique ways to spice up her life, Reimu followed Marisa's example.

"Mmm…it makes it even more delicious~!" commented a satisfied Reimu.

"I don't just use my magic mushrooms for potions you know! I quickly learned when I was younger that mushrooms can be really delicious when you mix it with other food. And it's not like I have a shortage of them either, ze; I have an entire cavern full of different species after all, ze."

"Yeah, I saw. It was really pretty down there…"

"The luminescent mushrooms and fungi also make a convenient light source too. Anyway, you're probably pretty tired so head on up and get some sleep; I'll take care of the dishes, ze."

"Are you sure you don't want help?"

"Nah, I'll be fine. Goodnight, Reimu."

"Night, Marisa-chan."

**-Border of Reality-**

"…_that's the first one that's appeared in a couple decades…"_

"_I thought Phantasm Border had sealed all the existing rifts and prevented more from appearing?"_

"_She did; that's how she lost her ability to use magic in the first place, Flower Master."_

"_Ah, didn't know that, Historia Devourer. So why are they open again?"_

"_It would seem one of my students may have undone the seal by accident…"_

"_The miko I presume? Her magic is certainly capable of that."_

"_Correct; in fact, an alternate universe version of herself has taken her place."_

"_I was wondering why the miko smelled different, as if she were a completely different flower. I see my suspicions were at least somewhat correct. So then…what now?"_

"_We'll gather all our old allies together and try to keep this situation under control, but I can't shake the feeling that this is only a taste of what's to come…"_

"_You _always_ say that…and you haven't been wrong so far. You sure you've only been devouring the past?"_

"_Because I can totally eat something that hasn't come to pass…"_

"_Joking aside, don't you think we should start recruiting a new generation to replace us? Us Magi don't live forever, you know? All flowers have to wilt and die someday and I'd feel much better if we left behind a new garden rather than barren earth…"_

"_In due time, Flower Master…In due time…"_

"_Well, too bad; I've already gotten started on recruiting and training new Magi. Historia Devourer, I'm sure you're acquainted with Icy Saber, are you not?"_

_A young girl stepped out from the shadows atop the building into Historia Devourer's line of sight. Historia Devourer looked her up and down. As far as Historia Devourer could tell the girl was at least between thirteen to fifteen years old. Her long cyan hair cascaded halfway down her back and her eyes, the same cyan color as her hair, icily gazed at her from behind white, half rim glasses. It was then that Historia Devourer recognized the young Magus before her._

"_Whiterock-san?"_

"_Correct, it is I, Cirno Whiterock of the Whiterock Magi family."_

"_I wasn't made aware of your Magus status…Perhaps I should check the True Records for updates from the Hieda family more often; school keeps me rather busy, you know?"_

"_Quite."_

"_Ah, now that you're here, Icy Saber, I have a task for you."_

"_Ask and it shall be done, Flower Master."_

"_The Border of Phantasm has come undone once again opening our world to other dimensions. Normally we can handle an Anomaly before it gets out of hand, but it would appear we are already too late. While the Anomaly itself has retreated, its minions are still roaming the city. We need you to find those minions before someone gets hurt. Since you have asked me before for combat training, I believe you should get some experience out of this."_

"_I am always eager to learn from the best. If that is all, I shall be off now."_

_Icy Saber walked to the edge of the building before leaping off. Historia Devourer ran after her to see if she was alright only to receive a face full of powder snow. By the time Historia Devourer managed to get the snow off her face, Icy Saber was already gone._

"_Well I'll be damned, she knows how to fly."_

"_Flowers bloom so quickly…"_

"_I just hope this is an isolated incident though…It's not like we have someone who can seal our world again…"_

_Little did Historia Devourer know that they were in for one hell of a time…_

[Border of the Unknown]

Omake: Somewhere in the Universe…

"…that…all you got…King of Heroes…?" Shirou asked between breaths.

"Your fake Phantasms disgusts me…Allow me to show you what a _true_ arsenal of Noble Phantasms is like!" cried out Gilgamesh.

The King of Heroes held his hand up above him. He called out the name of his Noble Phantasm, the Gates of Babylon. Behind him, the very fabric of time and space warped as the First King called out his treasury of legendary artefacts. Shirou was expecting something like a storm of blades to rain out from the tear in reality, but was sorely disappointed. Only a single ripple appeared and it was solely a note, not a vast array of Noble Phantasms that came out.

_Gil,_

_A dear friend of mine 'borrowed' your precious Noble Phantasm to help her friend clean her house. I will return your Noble Phantasm upon her death…in seventy to eighty years._

_Sorry for the inconvenience,_

_- Yukarin_

"…"

"…"

"…this isn't one of your fakes, is it?"

"I certainly don't sign my letters with hearts."

"…_fuck_."

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: I'm planning on following the layout of Touhou games to give some order to my story. Basically, each arc will consist of 6 stages and one EX stage. The first two of every arc will be just Slice of Life stuff or irrelevant actions scenes I put in for the lulz. From stage 3 onward, plot relevant points will take center stage along with plot related action scenes. Finally, we have the EX stage where everyone has tea while I lead up to the next arc.<p>

This is the author, Daemon, signing out.

...oh, don't tell Gil I was the one who stole the Gates of Babylon :P


	4. Fun With Numbers Arc Stage III

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

For those of you who have already read past this Stage, you will probably want to reread this and the next Stage. It would seem certain readers (you know who you are ;P) weren't happy with a particular plot point. Normally, I would have told them to fuck off and that it's my story- that I can do whatever I want whether they like it or not.

Except they had a point.

So just this once I submit to that which I hate most: Status Quo.

That and I'm actually rather nice; if you have a perfectly logical (or well supported, as in evidence from peer reviewed journals and academic sources which are referenced in text properly and is in proper APA format) point, I will hear you out before I decide to swear my head off and launch one of my pretty pink thermonuclear ICBMs at you.

Because real men can rock pink and be _even more_ awesome.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Fun With Numbers Arc<em>

Stage 3: Of Assassins and Dimensional Rifts

Wriggle's night had gone better than she had expected. Thrice was her day's peace threatened. The first time was when Rumia attempted to lift her skirt so everyone on the bus could see her new panties; honestly, she had no idea what goes through Rumia's head sometimes…The second time was when Hakurei-senpai, one of the school's two 'good girl' idols, openly molested her at work though she would never tell anyone that Hakurei-senpai was damn good at stimulating sensitive spots. Wriggle briefly pondered how her supposedly 'good girl' senpai could know such things, but she began blushing furiously and so decided to drop the matter. The third was a near scolding her father gave her for coming home so late. Thankfully, that was the easiest to clear up as all she needed to do was explain that she had become friends with one of her senpais after she got hired at Mystia's restaurant.

The rest of Wriggle's night passed uneventfully as she ate dinner, finished her homework, took a bath and finally headed to bed. As she laid on her futon, unable to sleep, her thoughts drifted back to Hakurei-senpai. Hakurei-senpai had quite the following due to her beauty, kindness and easily approachable attitude. It came as a shock to her when she suddenly started picking a fight with Cirno; granted, the fuse for Cirno's anger was as short as the girl, but it was _Hakurei-senpai_, not Cirno, who started it. She took Kirisame-senpai's word and just chalked it up to Hakurei-senpai having a bad day; after all, being that nice must get stressful. Her trust in the reliable Kirisame-senpai _almost_ came back to slap her in the face when Hakurei-senpai molested her at work. Thankfully, it just seemed like Hakurei-senpai was just trying to sate 'certain' urges and she was quick in attempting to apologize.

With the troubles of the day behind her, Wriggle slipped into the realm of the unconscious. Normally she would have started dreaming, but instead all she heard was a droning buzz. Her eyes snapped open at the thought of a bug lurking somewhere near her; it wasn't so much that she was afraid of bugs because they were 'icky' so much as her father, being an entomologist, often kept dangerous species of insects within his office to study. Thankfully, there was no dangerous insect near her, but the droning buzz persisted so she was sure it wasn't her imagination. Wearing only a tank top and shorts, Wriggle quickly put on a comfortable hoodie and cargo pants to combat the chill of the night. Now normally Wriggle wouldn't have ventured out into the city so late at night, but there were two things that were wrong. One was that the droning buzz almost felt like it was beckoning her and Wriggle had no problem obliging; she was more than capable of incapacitating someone who was much larger and heavier than herself. The second thing was that, droning buzz aside, it was dead quiet. Such silence may not be unheard of in the quaint upper class neighbourhoods Cirno and Mystia lived in, but certainly not in the city center where Wriggle resided.

Wriggle made sure to thoroughly search her house for her father first to make sure he was alright. Wriggle was rather unnerved when she could find no sign of her father. Taking a quick walk throughout her apartment complex, knocking on doors, she was quickly coming to realize that she may very well be the only person in the entire city. Trying to find even a trace of another human being, she exited her apartment and made her way around the city; the only thing that frightened here more than the silence was the fact that the buzzing was almost starting to sound like a voice…a voice telling her to run for her life or die.

Spooked, she called out into the deafening silence, "Hello? Can anyone hear me?"

Nothing.

…except for several bloodcurdling howls.

'_Crap._'

**-Border of Reality-**

Reimu shot up and awakened from her slumber as she felt something. The shrine maiden wasn't sure what it was, but it felt similar to the disturbance caused by one of Yukari's gaps when they opened. Once her sleep induced drowsiness ceased clouding her senses, Reimu began to notice something was terribly off. The city she found herself suddenly transported to was just one among many in the Gensokyo region. The city was a major urban area, a complete opposite of Reimu's isolated shrine back home. The mere fact it was deafeningly silent meant that the disturbance she sensed earlier wasn't just a fluke. Though she wasn't entirely sure why, Reimu found herself walking over to the guest room where Marisa slept. Reimu quietly opened the sliding door and found the girl to be turning about in her sleep, not because of a nightmare, but because of something else entirely...

"...Mmm...So...Good...Patchun, you're amazing..."

'Glad to see you're alright...'

Reimu shut the door just as quietly as she opened it and headed back to her room. She searched the closet for some clothes to wear and found a traditional miko outfit, namely a red hakama and white haori. Deciding that the practical outfit was much better at warding off the night chill than a sarashi and bloomers, Reimu quickly slipped them on and ventured out into the night.

That was when the silence was broken by several bloodcurdling howls.

"So much for impromptu vacation..."

**-Border of Reality-**

Wriggle didn't bother waiting for any sign of her potential attackers and just hit the ground running. Her decision proved wise as moments later a pack of canine-like shadows were pursuing her. Having gained a reasonable head start, Wriggle decided to put her favourite activity, parkour, to use. Coming towards a 'dead end', Wriggle managed to climb up the short wall and vault herself over fast enough that she didn't lose her head start. She regretted looking back when she realized her pursuers could easily clear any obstacle by simply leaping over it or barreling straight through it. With her pursuers still hot on her tail, Wriggle used every skill and trick she had to keep her ahead. This came to a head as she faced an insurmountable wall. Spotting a broken ladder leading up to a fire escape several meters above her, high enough to be out of her pursuers' reach, she ran towards the wall. Once she reached the wall she forced her body to defy every law of physics that wanted her back on terra firma to wall-run up high enough so as to leap off the wall and onto the base of the broken ladder. Her gambit paid off as her pursuers uselessly attempted to leap up and bite her from her current sanctuary.

"Holy shit that was close…" murmured Wriggle as she struggled to breathe after over-exerting herself.

Unfortunately for Wriggle her pursuers were far craftier than she thought as they broke into the building and made their way over to the fire escape. Pushing her body beyond its limits, Wriggle raced up the stairs and thanked whatever deity that would listen to her for making her pursuers so large that they had trouble navigating the narrow fire escape. The chase came to a grinding halt however as Wriggle found herself cornered on the roof with no means of feasible escape save for a messy get-together with the ground below.

Now that they had slowed to approach her, Wriggle managed to get a better look at her pursuers. They were like wolves except they were three times as large. Beneath their course, jet black fur was a stocky body that made Wriggle wonder how they could leap around so easily. Staring her down were yellow feral eyes that almost seemed to glow due to how dark their fur was. Their most distinctive feature, however, was their mouths. Aside from the knife-like teeth, a strange black fume poured out from somewhere within their bodies. It was particularly jarring for Wriggle since the black fumes were making her dizzy and constantly pushing her towards unconsciousness.

'_At least I won't feel myself being ripped apart…_'

"_Leap of Faith…_"

The buzzing she heard earlier gave way to a calm emulation of her voice. The shock dragging her back firmly into the land of the conscious, Wriggle wondered briefly if she should listen to the voice in her head. Everything was already insane enough as it is, between the demonic hellhounds and the empty city, but having her inner voice telling her to effectively commit suicide?

"…well, not like I have much to lose at this point…"

Wriggle ran towards the edge of the building where she leapt off into the night. In the scant few seconds where she was plummeting, Wriggle felt truly alive. With the ground quickly approaching though, she was quickly wishing she hadn't jumped off and prayed that something, _anything_, would break her fall. Her prayers were once again answered as she landed in a dumpster filled with strange, soft pellets. The poor girl had to fight the urge to vomit when she realized she had landed in a dumpster full of obese maggots. She didn't have time to be disgusted by the sight as she leapt out of the dumpster when a pair of rather ravenous hellhounds decided to test their luck and leapt in after her. As if by a feat of magic, one Wriggle was secretly wishing was under her control, the maggots in the dumpster were replaced by hungry fire ants which ate the two hungry pursuers en masse. Wriggle's moment of triumph only lasted for a few more moments as she once again found herself cornered in the middle of the street.

Wriggle closed her eyes and screamed as the remaining hellhounds leapt at her. Noticing the lack of being devoured alive, Wriggle opened her eyes and confirmed that she had gotten herself into something truly strange. Half of her pursuers, numbering at around half a dozen, were nailed onto the ground by six large swords of ice. The other six simply exploded after brightly glowing colored orbs smashed into them and detonated.

"Hmph, it seems the red-white is also a Magus."

Simply from the girl's voice, Wriggle could tell it was her friend Cirno. Cirno was wearing a light blue dress with frills along the bottom and at the ends of her sleeves. The hem and sleeves of the dress was decorated with white diamonds. Holding the upper part of the dress secure to her body was a white corset. Over all this were layers of icy armor which protected every inch of her body save for the joints which were protected by icy chainmail. An icy helmet protected her head with her long cyan hair coming out the base of it in a ponytail. Behind her were more icy blades, arranged in the vague shape of six wings giving her the appearance of a frozen seraph. On top of all this, as in literally on top of all her armor and weapons, was a thick mist which gave her an even more ethereal appearance.

Her other saviour was Hakurei-senpai. The shrine maiden was living up to her title of shrine maiden as she was wearing a red hakama and white haori. Held between the fingers of her left hand were ofudas bearing the name of Hakurei Shrine's deity while gripped in her right hand was a gohei. Wriggle's senpai was scanning the area for further threats so when she relaxed, so did Wriggle.

"You're just bringing me one problem after another aren't you, Wriggle-chan?" Hakurei-senpai asked Wriggle with a comforting smile on her face.

Wriggle threw herself at her senpai and held her in an embrace as she cried in a mix of fear and relief. "T-Thank you so much for saving me, Hakurei-senpai!"

"What the hell, Wriggle? I saved you too!" complained Cirno.

"You're kinda obliged to save me, what with you being my friend and all; Hakurei-senpai could have let me die."

"Can you stop hugging me now? Those knives you're carrying are starting to dig into my sides…" requested Hakurei-senpai.

"Knives? But I'm unarmed…"

Wriggle brought her arms before her and found something that wasn't on her before. On both of her forearms were golden bracers with black metal filigree forming stripes. With a flick of her wrist a blade came out from the bracer. She also noticed that she had a pack strapped across her bag, a headband that was keeping her bangs from getting in her eyes and a muffler that covered her back

"Insect theme much?" commented Hakurei-senpai.

Wondering what Hakurei-senpai meant by that, Wriggle took off all the new equipment she seemed to have gained without her noticing. The first piece she examined was the gold and black bracers. Upon closer examination she realized that it really did resemble a wasp, with the blade that came out being akin to a stinger. The next piece was the pack that was slung across her back. With the bottom being bigger and rounder than the top, eight intertwining straps and eight yellow zippers, she quickly realized it was supposed to be a spider. The muffler's design was a dead giveaway as it obviously resembled the part of certain insects' carapace that covered their wings.

"Eat your heart out, Desmond Miles; I'm an Assassin!" whooped Wriggle as she pumped her fist in the air.

"Glad to see you've already forgotten you almost died tonight," said Cirno with a sigh of relief, "But you're a Magus, not an assassin."

"So I'm a Magical Girl Assassin? That even _better_!"

"Fine, whatever, think what you want…" Cirno said as she sighed in resignation, "Just come with me tomorrow morning before school starts; we have some paperwork to get out of the way…"

"Bureaucratic red tape? Aww, that's so lame, but you seem to know what you're doing, Cirno, so I'll catch up with you tomorrow."

"I'd suggest you hurry up and go home; whatever boundary is keeping this place sealed from the rest of the world is collapsing…" noted Hakurei-senpai as she floated up then flew away towards Hakurei Shrine.

"_She can fly?_ Oh, this is gonna be awesome!"

"If only…" complained Cirno.

**-Border of Reality-**

"…I take it back…waking up and running around an empty city at midnight isn't as awesome as I thought…" the new Magus complained with a yawn.

"I'd suggest you get into the habit of making coffee for yourself or drinking tea with a high caffeine concentration; you're gonna have a lot of sleepless nights from here on out" suggested Cirno as they walked towards the school's garden.

"Wait, why did you make me come along too?" Reimu questioned as she followed the ice Magus.

Cirno remained quiet as they walked past several rows of roses. Their school was one of the more upper class schools in the city and as a result they had a lot of extra luxuries most schools normally wouldn't have. The garden that was sprawled out before them was one of those luxuries. While everyone had their own names for the majestic garden, the gardener, one Yuuka Kazami, likes calling it Mugenkan. In fact, the person that Cirno was searching for was none other than the gardener. After walking through a field of sunflowers, Cirno, Wriggle and Reimu found Yuuka's mansion. Wriggle once again noticed that as soon as they entered the sunflower garden the world became unusually silent.

"We're going to see Yuuka, aren't we? This place gives off a similar feel to Mugenkan and Gensokyo; a sort of closed space separate from the world around it" Reimu noted as she couldn't shake the feeling that the sunflowers were watching them.

"Ah, so you know about the Closed Space sealing spell…Good, at least you're not as incompetent as Wriggle…"

"You keep talking as if I'm some sort of amateur; I can tell you've just started using magic recently…unlike me who's been using her spiritual powers to hunt youkai since I was just a kid."

"A youkai exterminator? Impossible! Youkai have been extinct for almost two centuries now; most likely the fault of your zealous ancestors."

"If the youkai of your world are extinct, then it's their fault for overstepping their boundaries and throwing off Nature's balance. Try and make fun of Rei-chan's family again and I'll cave your skull in" threatened Reimu as she didn't like having Rei-chan's family name, and by extension hers as well, slandered.

"Now, now children…No need to fight," Yuuka said to diffuse the situation, "And welcome to Mugenkan, esteemed Visitor and new Magus."

The Yuuka that stood before Reimu was exactly like her counterpart in Gensokyo. Everything from her red and white plaid clothes to her short green hair was exactly the same. However, there were also differences that were to be expected as the Yuuka before her was only human. Her hands were somewhat worn and covered in dirt which was expected given her known occupation as a gardener. The bags under her eyes though told a different story, one which demonstrates how dedicated this Yuuka was to the arcane arts. Reimu also noticed that Yuuka and her Gensokyo counterpart had the exact same magical focus which was a white parasol (in truth it was actually a large flower).

"At least your manners are better than the Yuuka I know; usually she'd be Trinity Sparking my ass out of her pocket dimension by now."

"Expect no such hostilities from me. Unlike my associates, I believe that it is better to plant and nourish seeds while the season permits."

"Hmm, so that's why you took me on as your student…Will you be taking Wriggle on as well?" inquired Cirno as she sat down at a table that had been set out for them.

"Of course. While it is beneficial for new Magi to learn more about the extent of their own powers, they can only do so if they are given the basic foundation; think of it as a comparison between a seed planted in dry, infertile soil and one planted in watered, fertilized soil."

"So you'll be teaching me the basics?" asked Wriggle.

"When the time permits, yes, I will. For now though we'll have to take care of some necessary paperwork…" replied Yuuka as she took out a musty old tome from out of nowhere. "This is an extension of the True Records known as the Registry. Right now I require your family name, the type of magic you possess and a Magus Title that we'll use to refer to you from now on."

"My family name is Nightbug, I can use magic to create and control insects and as for my title…," answered Wriggle before pondering what her title should be, "Let's go with 'Stinging Assassin'."

"Ah, an appropriate name given your signature weapon…How interesting…It would seem your late grandmother was a Magus as well going by the title of 'Queen Bee'" noted Yuuka as the tome showed who among the Nightbug family were Magi as well.

"I didn't even know my grandma could use magic…" dejectedly said Wriggle as she felt as though her grandmother could not trust her enough.

"Did you know everyone is capable of using magic? Everyone from the youngest of children to the oldest elders can be potential magic users. The problem is that not everyone awakens their dormant magical abilities. Even if one were to awaken their magical abilities, intentionally or not, it isn't guaranteed they'll survive. I'm sure you've heard of spontaneous human combustion or of young people suddenly dying of heart attacks?"

"So you're saying, those hellhounds aside, that even trying to don my magical girl outfit could have killed me?" fearfully asked Wriggle.

"Only if your body isn't designed to handle magic; thankfully, your lineage seems to have prevented that" answered Yuuka.

"So you guys have no way of determining which people are capable of handling magic, right?" inquired Reimu as she fiddled with several sheets of paper in her pocket.

"Our research has proved fruitless thus far."

"What if I had a safe method of determining who can and can't use magic?"

"Then by all means, share."

Reimu took out the sheets of paper from her pocket. Cirno and Wriggle had no idea why she walked around with such a thick stack of papers, but Yuuka could sense that they were not mere sheets of paper. Yuuka could make out the magical lattices within the structure of the paper, but were unfamiliar with them.

'_Is this a glimpse of how magic operates in her world, I wonder?_'

"They're blank right now, but this is the base form of all Spellcards. In my world we use them to have play fights that are typically harmless. While play fighting may not be your choice activity in this world, it does have one special property…"

"Only people who have bodies capable of magic can use them! Truly, who knew that such a simple trinket could be used to determine for whom Awakening is safe for!" happily exclaimed Yuuka.

"Honestly, you Magi must be pretty stupid to have not figured out such a simple method…"

"To be honest, we could have simply given our foci to those who have yet to Awaken, but given how strange our foci usually are it just wasn't a valid option and that's not even going into how the magical energy stored in them can react with someone who isn't meant to use magic."

"Like how your parasol has enough energy stored in it to level the whole school?" asked Reimu.

"Err, yes, just like that," replied an embarrassed Yuuka, "Hey, it's hardly my fault that, being a flower Magus, I instinctively absorb sunlight for additional magical energy."

"So then my magical girl outfit has magic stored in it too?" inquired Wriggle.

"Only if it requires it for reinforcement; really the only part of it that should have any magic is the bracers with the hidden blades. The pack may contain magic as well if it is using it to produce expendable weapons like throwing knives, but I can't know for sure until I see you in action."

"Will that be all for now, Kazami-sensei? School will be starting soon" Cirno reminded Yuuka.

Never having had so many apprentices before, the excited flower magus almost forgot about their other responsibilities. "Ah, yes, that will suffice for now. Would you be so kind as to leave those blank Spellcards with me, Hakurei-san? I would love to start researching them while school is in session."

"Take them; not like I need them anymore…"

"Excellent! After you finish at your part-time jobs please return here Hakurei-san and Stinging Assassin."

"Sure thing, Kazami-sensei!" Wriggle responded.

"Ah, please refer to me as Flower Master…"

**-Border of Reality-**

"You did pretty well at work today, Hakurei-senpai; you made so much on tips alone!" commented Wriggle as she changed out her waiter uniform and into a hoodie and skirt.

"I don't think that had anything to do with how well I worked…" countered Reimu as she remembered how many patrons she had to bash on the upside of the head for trying to grope her.

"Anyway, we should go talk to Kazami-sensei- I mean, Flower Master! Guh…I'm such a noob when it comes to all this Magi stuff…"

"…It's your first time so try not to worry about it…"

"Thanks, Hakurei-senpai!"

Once Reimu finished changing into her school uniform, she and Wriggle left the restaurant and took a bus back to the school. It was already getting late so Wriggle made sure to call her father to tell him that she would be staying over at Cirno's home. Likewise, Reimu used Wriggle's cellphone to call Marisa and told her not to wait for her since she was taking care of personal matters. With the gates into the school locked, Wriggle swiftly climbed the dividing wall whereas Reimu simply chose to fly above it. Now within the school grounds, the duo made their way over to Yuuka's Closed Space garden, Mugenkan.

"So are you a really skilled Magus, Hakurei-senpai? I mean you can fly and throw exploding magical orbs at things…And you even said to Cirno that you used to hunt youkai…"

"I'm just a shrine maiden. I don't use magic; I use spiritual power. Then again the two aren't really all that different in practical use. As for youkai hunting…See, funny thing is that a lot of my friends and acquaintances are youkai or some kind of monster; they said something about how I treated everyone equally…? But, yeah, back to the point about youkai hunting…I hardly hunt youkai anymore since the only youkai I need to hunt are the mindless, feral ones and they're hardly a challenge compared to my friends."

"Don't you think you're selling yourself kinda short?"

"I'm actually one of the weakest residents of my Gensokyo. You wanna know what my special ability is?"

"Making those exploding orbs?"

"…my special ability is to fly, a power _everyone_ already has in my Gensokyo. When you consider that some of my Gensokyo's residents can warp reality or harness nuclear fusion, I'm about as low on the special abilities tier as you can get. There's Marisa who doesn't have any special abilities unless you count the fact she can use the mini-hakkero which calls forth the fires of creation…"

"So what?"

"Huh?"

"You saved me didn't you? It wasn't someone with the ability to warp reality or create mini-suns; it was you, the so-called 'weak' shrine maiden. And you were pretty badass when you came to save me!"

"What about Cirno? She threw ice blades."

"But she's Cirno."

"Hmm, maybe she's a lot stupider than she looks; the Cirno in my world could freeze an entire lake and keep cool in a nuclear fusion reactor- Wriggle, watch out!"

Reimu threw herself at Wriggle, knocking both of them to the ground. Wriggle was beginning to question her senpai's sexual orientation when a storm of icy blades tore through where they were both walking mere moments ago. Reimu quickly rolled off of Wriggle and took out half a dozen ofudas which she threw at Cirno. The ofudas began glowing purple as they homed in on the ice themed Saber expy. Cirno tried to intercept the homing ofudas with her icy bladed constructs, but quickly found herself flying evasively. Cirno twisted, barrel-rolled and performed Immelmanns in a desperate bid to evade the homing ofudas.

"For a 'weak' shrine maiden you seem to have an easy time maintaining homing projectiles…" commented Cirno after she discarded her icy platemail so it could take the hits meant for her.

"I said I was weak; I didn't say I was a pushover…idiot."

"Cirno, what do you think you're doing?" cried out Wriggle as she switched over to her Magus outfit.

"Calm down," replied Cirno while she held up a Spellcard, "I am merely testing the Spellcard I was given by Flower Master. She's not even here right now; something about more Magi Awakening…?"

"I take it that's not a common occurrence?" Reimu asked Cirno.

"It's not so much the Awakening itself so much as the number of people Awakening…The number of Magi has already increased by three in just one day! You have no idea how rare that is; the last time so many Magi Awakened was back in the days when youkai and other monsters still roamed the land!"

"Hakurei-senpai, do you think it might have something to do with that Closed Space thing we were in last night?" pondered Wriggle.

"Now that I think about it you might be right…The Yuuka in my world often trained her magical abilities in Mugenkan, a sort of dream world. Even though she was just dreaming the skills she learned and acquired were carried over to her real self. Maybe the same thing applies to your Closed Spaces? If only Magi can appear in Closed Space doesn't that mean that anyone with the potential to Awaken safely can appear in them too?"

"Don't look at me; I just became a Magi a year ago and I'm still working on perfecting the basics," answered Cirno, "Hey! Don't distract me red-white! We're supposed to be having a Spellcard duel!"

"Then you just lost."

"What?"

Cirno looked down at herself when her helmet suddenly disappeared. Her icy platemail and chainmail that were protecting her a few seconds ago had melted into a puddle beneath her. The icy blade constructs that floated behind her shattered over and over again until they were nothing more than snowflakes scattered about by the wind. Her dress was the last to go, disappearing in a flash of blue light. The previously mighty Cirno, an icy tribute to the King of Knights, was reduced to a normal first year high school student.

"Y-You! You sabotaged those Spellcards, didn't you?" accused Cirno.

"In my world, Spellcards are a form of focus, not unlike Yuuka's parasol or your sword. If you have no focus, then how can you cast magic? That's what happened just now; what you and Yuuka didn't know was that Spellcards have a time limit, a built in limiter to keep Spellcard duels balanced. Once the time limit is up, the Spellcard breaks. Because you and Yuuka were so eager to try them out, you never bothered asking me what their limitations were…and unfortunately for you and Yuuka, Spellcards act as a buffer between your magic and your foci instead of a foci as it was intended to be used…"

"You mean I can only use my magic for forty seconds, _permanently?_ Y-You…I will run you through with Excalibur, the Sword of Promised Defeat, as soon as I can use my Spellcard again!"

"Good luck with that…" scoffed Reimu. '_Any magic that works through a Spellcard is non-lethal so have fun trying to kill me~._'

"Err…Cirno…Excalibur is the Sword of Promised _Victory_, not defeat; what _exactly_ does your sword do?"

"Isn't it supposed to bring certain victory to those who wield it…no…no, no, NO, NONONONONO! Are you telling me I just made a _cursed_ focus? The way you ignored me last night…The way I didn't notice the timer on the Spellcard…Every screw up I've had over the last year was because _I cursed myself? _H-_How could I be so stupid?_" lamented Cirno as she fell to her knees and started crying.

"Wow…I never thought I'd say this…but watching Cirno failing something is kinda heart wrenching…Now _I_ feel bad for giving Yuuka those blank Spellcards…" commented Reimu.

"Wait…Kazami-sensei…Oh _shit_, Hakurei-senpai, Kazami-sensei was supposed to deal with some freshly Awakened Magi! What if they try to attack her?" Wriggle pointed out.

"Ah…That would be a problem, wouldn't it?" Reimu replied nonchalantly, "We have to save the day, don't we, Wriggle-chan…?"

"Actually, I was kinda hoping _you'd_ save the day, but if you trust me to cover your back…Alright, count me in, Hakurei-senpai!"

"A bug with a spine? That's a first…" Reimu said to compliment Wriggle before turning her attention onto Cirno. "Now what about you? Are you just gonna settle for being a snivelling failure or are you gonna get up and help your sensei out? Don't you need her alive if you want to unbind the Spellcard from yourself?"

"…give me your gohei."

Reimu smirked and handed the depressed Magus her gohei; it wasn't like she really needed her gohei when she was, quite literally, capable of kicking ass. She held her hand out to help Cirno up which she accepted without hesitation. The young Magus wiped what tears remained in her eyes once she was standing.

"That was heartwarming and all, but where's Yuuka? She told us to meet her here so we have no idea where she might be now" Reimu asked the ice Magus.

"She said that one of the Awakened Magi was at _Lorelei_, that restaurant in the mall" Cirno answered.

"How long ago did she leave? If it wasn't that long ago then she's probably at the restaurant…" inquired Reimu.

"She left a few minutes before you two came."

"Good. Both of you grab a hold of my hand…we're taking the express route there."

"Flying is cool and all, but won't someone see us?" mentioned Wriggle.

"Highly unlikely…Have you bothered to see where we are?"

"Yeah, we're not in Mugenkan anymore…but we're still in a Closed Space right? It's still dead quiet-"

The three girls turned their heads as three massive beams of light tore through the gray, empty night sky.

"Except for that; I'm pretty sure Yuuka wouldn't just shoot off a Trinity Spark for her amusement…Shall we get going then?" Reimu offered once more.

Cirno and Wriggle held onto Reimu's hands as the flying shrine maiden flew off into the night. Even with the extra weight Reimu was flying at top speed. The trio watched as even more beams cut through the dull skies for a minute before silence reigned once again. With no more beams lighting up the sky, Reimu pushed herself to go even faster to avoid having to give funeral rites for the flower Magus. Once Reimu arrived at _Lorelei_ she threw the two young Magi through the doors before crashing through the remains of the door herself.

"What is your problem?" screamed out Cirno as she grabbed the gohei she dropped.

"_Our_ problem…is her."

Reimu pointed over to the Magus standing over a bloodied Yuuka. Droplets of blood dripping from her nails, Mystia's attention went from the downed flower Magus to the three newcomers. The young Magus was wearing headphones which looked like a pair of wings. Over her long sleeved black button up blouse was a brown vest whose collar was lined with black feathers. Her brown pleated skirt came halfway down her thighs while a mantle was wrapped about her waist. On her thigh high boots were a dozen feather shaped daggers. Firmly gripped in her left hand was a staff that bore a striking resemblance to a mike and its stand. But perhaps most jarring was her eyes; her sclera were black and her irises yellow.

"Ah, my audience keeps increasing- _Help me_- Did you come to hear me sing?" Mystia asked in a voice not her own.

"…is she using a mike stand as a staff?" asked Cirno as she regarded the strange focus with interest.

"Your friend just asked you to _help her_ and all you can say is '…is she using a mike stand as a staff?'" mocked Reimu.

"Too much unnecessary conversation- _Run…Run away_- time to get my show started!" cried out Mystia.

The sparrow Magus brought the tip of her staff before her mouth and began singing. Cirno, apparently recognizing it as Hymn magic, broke into a dash towards her friend. Gohei raised above her head, Cirno brought it down on her friend with the hope that knocking her out would bring her out of her madness. Instead of continuing her song, the possessed Mystia screamed into her staff and let loose a devastating burst of magic. Without any spells or enchantments protecting her, Cirno was sent flying across the restaurant before slamming against a far wall with bone breaking force. The ice Magus simply slumped to the ground, unconscious.

"Wriggle-chan, get behind me!" ordered Reimu as she deployed an ofuda in front of her.

Wriggle leapt behind Reimu as Mystia screamed into her staff once more. Unlike Cirno, Reimu's ofuda turned into a bright blue barrier which easily took Mystia's attack head on. Reimu grimaced as she saw her barrier waver under Mystia's unrelenting assault.

"What do we do now, Hakurei-senpai?" Wriggle screamed out over Mystia's deafening magical assault.

"It's up to you! I can't move or else the barrier will weaken and collapse!"

"What if I can get that staff out of her hands?"

"That would work! Use those knives of yours and cut the muscles to her thumbs; she'll drop the staff in no time!"

"I don't want to hurt her!"

"…and I don't want either of us to die!"

'_Guess it's time to nut up or shut up…I'm really sorry for hurting you, Mystia-chan!_'

Wriggle dashed out from behind Reimu's barrier and headed towards Mystia. Deciding that the androgynous Magus with a pair of knives coming out of her bracers was more dangerous than a magic wielding shrine maiden, Mystia let loose another musical shockwave aimed at Wriggle. Taking a gamble, Wriggle grabbed a table and threw it at her possessed friend. Unable to keep a sustained barrage against a moving target, the single shockwave Mystia let loose tore the table to shreds but didn't harm Wriggle. Wriggle abused this flaw to no end as she bobbed and weaved through the restaurant, throwing or kicking anything she could get close to in order to intercept Mystia's attack. Wriggle caused her hidden blades to retract just as she was about to get into striking range of Mystia. After one final interception throw, Wriggle drew her right hand back to punch Mystia in the face.

"You really think- _Don't you dare hold back, Wriggle_- that will be enough?"

Mystia stopped screaming into her staff and instead used it as a bludgeoning weapon. The sparrow Magus wound her staff back to get ready to strike Wriggle and was about to swing it when Wriggle caused her hidden blade to snap out. Mystia flinched and let out a scream as she thought she was going to get stabbed. Instead, Wriggle made good on her previous course of action and punched Mystia in the face. Dazed, Wriggle wrenched the staff loose from her grip and then used it to smack Mystia back a good few feet.

"You- _punch like a little girl, Wriggle-chan_- little pest! Die!" Mystia angrily screamed out.

Mystia crouched low and grabbed a pair of her feather daggers which she held reverse grip style. Rearmed, Mystia decided to get up close and personal. Wriggle returned the favor in kind by unsheathing both of her hidden blades. When both Magi got within striking range Wriggle furiously lunged with her blades while Mystia ferociously slashed with her daggers. Reimu was distracted by the sight of the two Magi, nothing more than a storm of metal, battling it out with each other. Spellcard duels were largely ranged affairs so Reimu had never really witnessed the physical prowess of youkai; if their Magi counterparts were even as marginally strong as their youkai counterparts then Reimu was glad she instated the system or else she may not be even be alive today.

"Oi, Mystia, already forget about lil old me?"

"Huh- _Oh crap, this is gonna hurt_- what the-?"

"Batter's up!"

Somehow during all the commotion, Cirno had woken up and snuck up on Mystia. Mystia, still locked in fierce melee combat with Wriggle, could only look on in horror as the gohei wielding ice Magus swung as hard as her normal body could. The wooden gohei was broken in twain as it smashed into Mystia's apparently reinforced head, much to Cirno's dismay.

"Well…_fuck me-_"

Cirno found herself skidding across the restaurant once more as Mystia kicked her. Cirno groaned and cursed her cursed focus.

'_Why did I have to enchant a blade with a curse to bring certain defeat to…it's…wielder…_ARGH! _Why am I so stupid?_'

"Oi, Mystia, catch!"

"Ah, a serviceable blade- _What the hell are you doing, Cirno_- don't mind if I kill you- Wait…_Oh you have got to be kidding me!_"

"Have a Sword of Promised Defeat on the house…Let's try this again, shall we? _Batter's up!_"

Cirno grabbed a nearby chair and used it as a substitute for Reimu's broken gohei. Winding up once more, Cirno swung with all her might and smashed the chair against Mystia's head again. Under the influence of Cirno's cursed sword, Mystia felt as if the chair actually managed to hit harder than Reimu's reinforced gohei. Not surprisingly the sparrow Magus was sent reeling from the blow which Wriggle took advantage of.

"Nothing is forbidden, everything is permitted!"

Upon uttering that Wriggle crouched low to the ground and swept out Mystia's legs causing her to fall forwards. Wriggle quickly rolled out of the way as Reimu ran up and, in a feat of acrobatic grace, flipped back and kicked Mystia right under the chin. The possessed Magus finally fell unconscious after Reimu's kick sent her into a graceful arc straight into her restaurant's bar which cracked around her lithe form. Wriggle made her way over to Mystia's body, poked her on the cheek a couple times and gave Reimu a thumb's up.

"Not bad for your first time, Nightbug-san!"

Whatever was left of the door to the restaurant was kicked down along with the hinges when Keine-sensei barged into the ruins of the restaurant. The image of the usually calm and composed Keine-sensei was shattered just like the remains of the door. Her usual white blouse, navy blue skirt and high heels were replaced by light green fur trimmed trousers, long coat and combat boots. Coming out on either side of her head were blade like horns while a furry wolf tail waggled behind her. Held between her teeth was a stick of pocky that she was treating like a cigarette.

"Keine-sensei, you're a Magus as well?" asked Wriggle.

"Most of the teachers at our school are" Cirno replied before turning her attention back to the veteran Magus. "You're not gonna interrogate Mystia…are you?"

"I need to know what happened so I can update the True Records properly," Keine-sensei answered rather annoyed than anything else, "But relax, the Kamishirasawa family no longer interrogates people the old fashioned way; all I need to do is peer into her history. I'll even take her and Yuuka to a doctor I know who can heal them in no time!"

"Sorry…I managed to gleam some information from Letty-nee about your family's…history, so I was just a bit worried about her."

"The Kamishirasawa family being yakuza is hardly a secret; we're just not like how yakuza are typically portrayed in media, what with everyone in my family being Magi and all. Funny thing is that we're almost always relegated to administrative work due to my family's inherent ability to access and maintain the True Records; we hardly ever get in Enforcer roles nowadays in the Magic Association."

"Good because I'm going to need _lots_ of morphine…You _can_ get me that…right?" Yuuka asked as she stood up paying no mind to the garish wounds on her chest.

"Grow your own opium poppies, Flower Master" retorted an annoyed Keine-sensei.

"Bah, you admin types are always so straight-lace…"

"Flower Master…your wounds!" Cirno cried out.

"It would seem the miko has some skill in healing; as long as I don't get caught up in another fight I'll be fine. However, it doesn't change the fact that it still hurts quite a bit…"

"I learned from one of the Outsiders in my world that willow bark can be used as a pain killer; perhaps you can use that instead? If I've been following the conversation you've been having with Keine, I think I can say with certainty that being a Magus doesn't give you the right to just freely grow opium poppies."

"And right you are Hakurei-san; how perceptive of you," complimented Keine-sensei as she threw Yuuka's parasol at her, "If that's all I'll be taking my leave now; Whiterock-san and Nightbug-san, would you please come along? I would like our family physician to look you over and make sure both of you are alright; that and I'm sure Lorelei-san would be much more comfortable if you two are around."

"Sure thing, Keine-sensei."

"Of course, Historia Devourer."

After giving their confirmation, Cirno and Wriggle followed Keine-sensei, who was carrying Mystia on her back, out into the night where they promptly vanished without a trace. That left just the flower Magus and the shrine maiden in the Closed Space.

"You're definitely sure you'll be alright?" Reimu asked once more to Yuuka.

"I've always been tougher than most so a little superficial injury like this isn't really a big deal."

"She missed gouging your heart by one centimeter; I don't know about you, but I think you should re-evaluate your definition of 'superficial injury'…"

"I've always preferred melee based fighting over casting spells so I've taken my fair share of garish injuries over the years and yet here I am, unscarred and as healthy as ever. One of the few offensive spells I know is Master Spark which, put simply, is store magical energy in my focus, aim it at someone I don't like and unleash lovely annihilation; the Dual and Trinity versions is me simply upping the number of beams through clones of myself."

"I've had the Marisa of my world explain how Master Spark works so I don't exactly need a repeat lesson; hell, I could probably use Master Spark as well if I could figure out how to store that much spiritual energy in my ying-yang orbs without causing them to explode."

"I could teach you, but right now my main priority is commissioning a Magus to create a charm to revert the Spellcards Icy Saber and I have back to blanks; if Lorelei-san's possession is anything to go by then I should get myself ready for more fights…Oh, how I miss the good old days when I used to fight against Anomalies and rogue Magi…"

"Yeah…I'm just going to leave now…I could use a bath…"

_~Border of Fantasy~_

With a great big stretch, Reimu woke up after a good, but dreamless, night of sleep. A day had already passed by for the dimensionally displaced shrine maiden. She had spent that day doing things she never even thought possible but strangely found herself growing surprisingly comfortable with it. After borrowing some of Marisa's clothes, a white and blue version of Marisa's usual witch outfit, Reimu headed outside to exercise. It was a morning routine her parents instilled at an early age and Reimu found it to be rather beneficial; the Marisa of her world even joked that it was the cause for her eye-catching figure. Once physical exercises were out of the way, she moved on to practicing with her magic. One of her sore points, which was brutally rammed home yesterday, was that she couldn't differentiate between a bolt of magic meant for play fighting and one meant to kill. Remembering Marisa and Yukari mentioning to her that fairies made excellent targets to practice on, Reimu flew off towards a lake she spotted yesterday that was teeming with fairies.

Happening across a trio of fairies, Reimu casually asked them, "I don't really want to hurt you three, but if I can't stop killing people during Spellcard duels by accident I highly doubt Yukari or Marisa will let me have any fun. Would you mind if I try out a Spellcard on you three?"

"Hey, Luna, isn't she the shrine maiden?"

"But she's dressed like a witch, Sunny."

"Who cares? She just challenged us to a Spellcard duel. Shouldn't we…oh, I don't know… run away?"

"Why the hell should we do that?"

"Because she's already attacking us…This is gonna be a horrible day…"

Reimu raised her Spellcard, the exact same one that hurt Marisa yesterday, and activated it. More than two dozen homing lasers shot out from the card and homed in on the fairy trio. They immediately flew off in a delta formation hoping to avoid getting shot out of the sky. Unfortunately for them, they were neither fast enough nor evasive enough as Reimu's lasers quickly caught up to them and tagged them. The trio were just about ready to hear the characteristic *PICHUN* sound their kind made when they 'died', but heard no such noise…although their bodies did hurt terribly; getting hit by danmaku tends to do that…

"We're…we're not dead!" Sunny gleefully cried out.

"Yes, but I hurt all over…" whined Luna.

"That wasn't too bad I suppose…" murmured Star.

"Yay~! I didn't kill you three!" proudly proclaimed an enthusiastic Reimu. "Today has just been going great! Well, I should probably get back and help Marisa out with breakfast so I'll catch up with you three later. Thanks a lot and bye!"

Waving cheerfully at them, Reimu flew off in the direction she came from leaving a very confused trio of fairies.

"That was Reimu…right?" Luna asked to confirm that the enthusiastic girl that had just shot them was indeed the lazy shrine maiden.

"I believe so…Although why was she dressed as a witch?" pondered Star.

"Uhh…guys…What the hell is that…?"

The other two fairies looked over to where Sunny was pointing. Far off in the distance a section of otherwise clear sky began to blacken. The strange anomaly continued to spread across the skies of Gensokyo like an unstoppable plague. Once the entire sky had blackened, cracks began to form. With a great crash the anomaly shattered leaving behind a gaping violet portal in the sky above the Outsider Settlement.

"Sunny, find Cirno and Daiyousei…_NOW_."

**-Border of Our Reality-**

John Smith, or so he calls himself, was your average teenage male.

Emphasis on 'was'.

John Smith was merely an alias he used in online forums and games. This was due to an uncanny resemblance to Kyon of _Haruhi Suzumiya_ fame. Just like Kyon, he used to reside in Nishinomiya Prefecture- he even went to North High! He was also a closet otaku, showing up at conventions like Comiket and Reitaisai wearing nothing more than his school uniform. Given who he looked like while wearing it he didn't exactly look out of place in such conventions.

Aside from his uncanny resemblance to Kyon, John didn't really stand out much. John only managed to get barely passing grades at school despite possessing esoteric knowledge that most sixteen year olds wouldn't have. Whatever athletic capability he had was masked by a severe lack of motivation and general disinterest.

Unlike his fictional counterpart though, John quickly found himself becoming bored of the world around him once he realized that the fantastical simply didn't exist. That was why he immersed himself in manga, anime, light novels…anything that would allow him to escape the harsh grayness of reality.

Surprisingly, when the fantastic called him, he answered with a great deal of hesitation.

He had almost ignored the call, not realizing what it was initially. His foray into the phantasmagoria known as Gensokyo began with an innocuous message from his school. Put simply, it was an advertisement for a new cram school. It catered specifically to students such as himself- ones who had the intellect and talent to be much more than they were, but were held back by a lack of motivation. This wasn't the first time a cram school made such a claim and as a result he paid it no mind.

His parents, on the other hand, did.

Before John knew it, he was attending cram school. His teacher (really more of a personal tutor due to a lack of other students) was a half-Japanese foreigner by the name of Patricia Hearn. The woman was supposedly fifty years old though she certainly didn't look it. John had to admit that the woman really did help him gain some motivation for she was the most eccentric person he had yet to meet- and somehow that made it easier for him to retain the information he learned. The one thing that constantly frustrated him was that he felt as though he had met or seen this woman before.

Then one day he finally made the connection.

Hair of gold…Violet eyes…Large bosom…Has the same name as Lafcadio Patrick Hearn…

It was freaking Yukari Yakumo in the flesh.

Now he just had to find out if he was being delusional or if he really was on to something.

"Your grades are improving excellently, Takamachi-san," observed Hearn-sensei, "Have you thought of a reward for yourself?"

This was one of the habits 'Hearn-sensei' imparted on him- if you do well, treat yourself. It was by no means a solution to his lack of motivation though it did help remedy it somewhat.

"How about you answer some questions for me then."

"Oh, what kind of questions might they be~?" Hearn-sensei asked back.

"Are you a _Touhou_ fan by chance?"

A teasing smile, one which made her look even more like Yukari, made its way on her face. "I may be…"

John took out his cellphone and showed Hearn-sensei a picture it was displaying. "An acquaintance of mine shared this photo with me. The quality of the cosplayer's costume caught my eye; most fans don't have the money to make something that good."

Hearn-sensei gave the Yukari cosplayer an appraising look. "She certainly has the appearance to pull off Yukari Yakumo and her costume is excellent. What does this have to do with me though?"

"I asked my acquaintance if he knew the cosplayer's name," John replied before pausing dramatically. "He told me her name was Patricia…Patricia Hearn."

"What a coincidence then~!"

"He further told me that Hearn-san often frequents the mountains around here to scout out locations to do photo shoots" John explained.

"So she's a local? I'd certainly like to meet her."

"Unfortunately, the lovely Patricia Hearn passed away a year ago," John answered somberly, "So my question is…who are you?"

"Who do you think I am?" Hearn-sensei asked back. Her voice dripped with amusement as if this was just another part of her game. "Perhaps you think I'm really Yukari Yakumo?"

"Maybe not something that drastic," John lied, "But you're definitely not Patricia Hearn either."

"Let's make a game of it then," the impostor suggested. "If you can find solid proof that I'm not merely Patricia-chan faking her death or an impostor then I'll tell you the truth. How does that sound?"

"How do you know I won't just call the police?"

Game or not, this was still a clear case of identity theft after all.

Hearn-sensei laughed, the kind of laugh reserved for obnoxious, high-born nobles. "Give it a try, but I doubt they'll be able to help you. Anyway, like I said, this is a game; the point here is to challenge yourself and have fun, not put you into any danger."

"If you have no further questions for me then you're dismissed," Hearn-sensei turned around to pack her own things before adding, "I look forward to how this game will end…~."

John stepped out of the classroom, his mind preoccupied with how he was going to solve this mystery. He knew, more likely than not, that he was overthinking the situation- that Hearn-sensei was really who she was and that she staged her own death for some reason or another. This didn't stop him from thinking she was Yukari Yakumo anyway. He continued musing about how he could prove (or disprove) Hearn-sensei's identity when someone grabbed him by his tie and pulled him to their face.

"Hey, you're in Hearn-sensei's class, right?"

A girl, slightly shorter than he, had pulled him down so she could look him straight in the face. John gave a small prayer of thanks to whatever deity out there that would listen to him that this girl did not resemble Haruhi Suzumiya in appearance.

As for personality…well, that remains to be seen…

Haruhi-lookalike or not, this girl was definitely cute. Standing at half a head shorter than he, the girl had hair as black as night done up into a short ponytail. Her eyes reminded John of a cat, curious and mischievous. The same applied to her body, lithe but strong.

"Oi, Earth to Kyon, you there?"

"_Not Haruhi, but definitely just as annoying…_" John thought to himself. "Takamachi, not 'Kyon'."

"Yeah, whatever, but you're in Hearn-sensei's class, right?" John gave no reply so the girl figured she should give him a reason to respond. "I heard your conversation with Patricia-chan. I want to know why she's going to all this trouble."

"You know her?" This new development piqued John's interest.

The girl nodded. "She's a friend of mine. I was told that she had died, but when I asked the police they told me she was missing."

"And how'd you get the police to tell you that? As far as I know they never released that info to the public."

"Bribed them obviously. Being loaded means you can just throw money at your problems until they're solved…Most of the time anyway…"

"Alright…I see where this is going; you'll help me out if I can confirm whether or not she's Hearn-san," John guessed, "From how she worded it there's a good chance she really is your friend, but I can't help but think there's something else going on…"

"Give me a night to get all the proof you need," The girl then took out her cellphone, "But I'll need your number; just think of it as payment for the information that I have~."

John let out a sigh marking him as one of the eternally damned and surrendered his number to the girl. "You never told me your name."

"Shino," the girl answered, "I'll pop in tomorrow once you're done class here and we'll find out the truth together, okay~?"

That night, as he slept, John had a dream about a genki girl Reimu stealing the Gate of Babylon from Gilgamesh. Amusing as it was, he forgot about it by the time he made his way to school in the morning. Instead, his mind was busy running imaginary simulations, both mundane and fantastical, of how today's confrontation with Hearn-sensei would go. By the time classes ended, both at his high school and cram school, he was left with only one conclusive result:

He had absolutely no idea how this was gonna turn out.

**-Border of Our Reality-**

"Alright then, you're dismissed-"

"Ya~hoo~!"

Shino nearly kicked the door down. Once she realized it was a sliding door, Shino chose to just slide it open forcefully, the door making a loud *CLACK* sound in response. With one hand on her hip and the other pointing accusingly at Hearn-sensei, Shino proclaimed, "I finally found you, Patricia-chan!"

"You've managed to recruit yourself a most powerful ally, Takamachi-san," Hearn-sensei said to John with disappointment easily found in her voice, "I guess this game is over then."

"You're just gonna give up?" John asked Hearn-sensei.

"Of course," she replied, "Knowing Shino-chan, she either bribed someone or seduced them, got the information she needed and then kicked them in the balls before fleeing."

"That's my Patricia-chan~! Just in case though I brought the notes the police compiled about the crime scene," Shino fished out a manila envelope from her bag. "According to this, the last place anyone saw Patricia-chan at was an abandoned shrine up in the mountains. When the police investigated, they found signs of a struggle and a fair bit of blood- the basis for the rumor that Patricia-chan died- however, there was no body found."

"And how do you know I'm not just an impersonator? How are you even sure that Patricia Hearn isn't dead?"

Shino continued, "A follow up search of the mountain turned up nothing though that doesn't rule out foul play. What makes your case strange is that there's another Patricia Hearn in town…except she's definitely dead."

Shino showed the other two a death certificate and a picture. The picture was that of the other Patricia Hearn, a portly foreigner that looked nothing like Hearn-sensei. She further explained that the woman had no family in Japan and as such no one really followed up on her death.

A lightbulb went on in John's head. "So your friend was hiding in plain sight; same name, but technically a different identity. Now I _really_ want to know why; people don't go to this much trouble to fake their deaths…"

Hearn-sensei sat atop her lectern and crossed her legs. With a snap of her fingers her clothes changed from a white blouse and a violet skirt to a pale pink dress under what John and Shino could only guess was some kind of cheongsam. A pale pink lace parasol was propped up against her lectern and she hid her face, along with her smirk, behind a violet paper fan.

"I occasionally pop into the Outside World to get caught up with things on this side of the Great Hakurei Barrier," Yukari said while closing her fan, "Although this time I'm here on business."

She explained that the area the Great Hakurei Barrier encompassed increased. What she didn't expect was sections of abandoned towns and factory districts from the Outside World taking up this new space. While some youkai have moved into these new areas and made it their homes, the vast majority of it was still uninhabited. Since there were a growing number of Outsiders arriving in Gensokyo, Yukari figured that they could use the area for their own; it wasn't in the best of shape, but that's nothing a bit of material and construction tools can't fix. Within the span of ten years, the Settlement (named this despite the fact that was larger than the Human Village several times over) was established as the living and work area for Outsiders and any humans or youkai who decided to move there.

"So where do we fit in this picture?" Shino asked her friend.

"You two desired a more extraordinary world, did you not?" Yukari stated this more than she asked despite the intonation in her voice. "I am offering you that chance. What do you have to lose? You already live alone, Shino, and there's not much in store in your future, Takamachi-kun."

"And so you're just gonna spirit us away?" John tried to hide the excitement in his voice- for the first time in his life he had stumbled into something that was truly amazing.

"But there'll be people who'll look for us," Shino countered, "It might take them a while to figure out I've gone missing- probably when the next Reitaisai rolls around- but Kyon's parents will notice right away."

"_Takamachi_," John corrected, "And she's right. I really want to take you up on your offer- I really do- but it would just be way too suspicious; and wouldn't our sudden disappearance draw a lot of attention to you too?"

Yukari laughed at their dilemma. "But isn't that part of the mystery of humans being spirited away~? People will ask, '_But how did they vanish?_' and try to come up with reasons for it. In today's secular world most of these reasons will be mundane- things like committing suicide in a secluded location or running away from home- but there will always be those who add to the mystique. Just imagine! You two could become an urban legend! '_The Spiriting Away of Shino and Kyousuke_' has a nice ring to it, doesn't it?"

"I'm starting to get the feeling that you're the source for all those urban legends," John noted, "So where those people you've spirited away before?"

"Some," Yukari answered truthfully for once, "As for the rest…well…I know only what I know."

"Don't try to distract me with _Bakemonogatari_ references, Pat- err, Yukari-chan!" Shino blurted out. "If we agree to this at least help Takamachi-kun come up with an excuse; I don't really care if I go missing in this world, but Takamachi-kun's parents will if he just vanishes."

Yukari handed John a sheet of paper she pulled out from a gap. It was an information package for some private school known as _Alice Academy_, a school for those with exceptional talents and intellect. The purpose of the academy was to help students hone those talents into something that they can earn an income from while helping them ensure they succeed academically. To John, it read like something from one of his mangas- something he was sure his parents wouldn't believe.

"Believe it or not, Takamachi-san, but you are quite a bright student," Yukari said to compliment John, "Wouldn't your parents derive some satisfaction knowing you are going to a prestigious school? Boring, I know, but it does solve your problem, doesn't it?"

"If my parents believe it…"

Yukari let out an exasperated sigh. "Humans…they always get hung up on such minor details…"

(9) Border of Class (9)

Cirno's Perfect Magus Class

_Cirno_: Greetings fellow Magi. I am the magus of ice, Cirno Whiterock the Icy Saber. Since I'm currently recuperating from my fight with Mystia, I'll be giving you a detailed lesson regarding all the Magi that appeared in this Stage. Why don't we start off with me?

(9) Border of Class (9)

Name: Whiterock, Cirno

Title: Icy Saber

Magic/Special Ability: Can freeze both matter and energy, manipulation of ice

Foci/Weapons: Failcalibur, Sword of Promised Defeat (-30 to all stats, -200 to Luck, 1% chance to instant kill/KO), Caliburn, The Sword that Chooses (Attack drone x6, homing enchantment)

Stats (includes weapon bonuses):

Endurance: 60/100

Mana: 70/100

Physical Attack: 10/100

Physical Defence: 60/100

Magic Attack: 10/100

Magic Defense: 60/100

Speed: 40/100

Luck: -100

Spells and Skills:

**Arcane Transmutation, Rank A** – conversion of magical energy into matter. Rank A allows for stable, long lasting constructs with enchantments of varying strength (ex. Speed Boost, Rank B on Caliburn attack drones) as well as imparting them with properties they normally wouldn't have (ex. Ice being tougher than diamonds ). A spell all Whiterock Magi are born with.

**Perfect Freeze, Rank EX** – Cirno's ability to perfectly freeze all matter and energy turned into a spell. Rank EX allows this spell to completely ignore Anti-Ice enchantments and Magic Defence in exchange for shorter freeze duration.

**Weapon Mastery –Sword-, Rank D** – Cirno possess basic sword skills to compliment her choice weapon, Failcalibur.

**Featherweight – **Removes weight. Cirno uses this to make her armor constructs weightless.

**Anti-Magic, Rank A** – Cirno can completely resist magic based attacks; does not apply to enchantments (Isn't it sad?)

**Offensive Construct –Ranged-, Rank B** – Cirno is capable of manually controlling several constructs at a time over a long distance; Caliburn's homing enchantment takes precedence over this spell.

**Flight** – Pretty much self-explanatory…

(9) Border of Class (9)

_Cirno_: As you can see my skills and spells make me a very useful tank against any attack as well as a reliable ranged attacker. Remember that the enchantments on your weapon, focus and constructs can help you compensate for particular shortcomings! Just make sure you're not accidentally cursing them instead though…Anyway, why don't we take a look at Wriggle-chan next?

(9) Border of Class (9)

Name: Nightbug, Wriggle

Title: Stinging Assassin

Magic/Special Ability: summoning and manipulating all insects

Focus/Weapon: Hidden Blades x2 (+10 to Physical Attack, Defence and Speed), Arachnid Pack (Stores secondary weapons Scorpion Blade, Bloody Asp, throwing needles, curative potions, restorative potions, smoke bombs, flash bangs and arrows)

Stats (includes weapon bonuses):

Endurance: 60/100

Mana: 30/100

Physical Attack: 60/100

Physical Defence: 40/100

Magic Attack: 50/100

Magic Defence: 20/100

Speed: 90/100

Luck: 80/100

Spells and Skills:

**Counterattack –Melee-, Rank EX** – Wriggle will always counter any melee attack against her even against multiple enemies. The counterattack part doesn't always hit though…Hmm, I wonder if this is a geas…

**Insect Familiar, Rank EX** – Wriggle can use her special ability to summon and control any insect of varying numbers. Rank EX even allows her to transform her Familiars into another kind of insect! Gross, but useful. Seems to be a spell that's inherent in the Nightbug family…

**Assassinate, Rank D** – shows Wriggle areas of an enemy's body that can be struck to inflict maximum damage and even instant kill/KO.

**Presence Concealment, Rank EX** – allows Wriggle to be completely undetectable as long as she's not attacking. Rank EX allows her to attack and remain concealed albeit with reduced effectiveness.

**Weapon Mastery –Dagger-, Rank C** – Wriggle possesses above average skill with her Hidden Blades.

**Weapon Mastery –Sword-, Rank D** – Wriggle possesses basic skill with a sword to compliment her secondary weapon, the Scorpion Blade.

**Weapon Mastery –Bow-, Rank C** – Wriggle possesses above average skill with her bow, Bloody Asp.

**Weapon Mastery –Thrown Projectile-, Rank C** – Wriggle possesses above average skill with her throwing needles.

**Mystic Eyes of Enhanced Perception** – a rare ability which allows Wriggle to temporarily view the world with enhanced senses allowing her to pick up on things she normally wouldn't be able to. If she uses this with Assassinate its Rank goes up to EX. Duration of twenty seconds.

**Firefly Phenomenon, Rank A** – A ranged magical attack that assaults the target with enchanted fireflies that explode and poison on contact. Wriggle's sole magical spell.

(9) Border of Class (9)

_Cirno_: While Wriggle is greatly lacking in offensive magic, a common occurrence amongst new Magi, she does have a versatile set of weapons which she is at least reasonably skilled with. Combined with her Insect Familiar spell and EX ranked Presence Concealment, Wriggle becomes a very dangerous foe if you have no way to magically detect others. She can also serve as a healing unit thanks to her never ending supply of curative and restorative potions. I haven't seen Mystia's stats yet so let's take a look at that…

(9) Border of Class (9)

Name: Lorelei, Mystia

Title: Evening Songstress

Magic/ Special Ability: Hymn magic

Focus/Weapon: Songstress Staff (+30 to Magic Attack, +10 to Physical Attack), Feather Daggers (+20 to Speed, Featherweight enchantment on user)

Stats (includes weapon bonuses):

Endurance: 30/100

Mana: 80/100

Physical Attack: 20/100

Physical Defense: 20/100

Magic Attack: 90/100

Magic Defense: 40/100

Speed: 90/100

Luck: 70/100

Spells and Skills:

**Ravage Requiem, Rank B** – turns Mystia's voice into a potent magical attack. Rank B grants a knockback effect, increased range and reduced Mana cost.

**Aria of Melancholy, Rank B** – conveys the sadness of being alone. Lowers the stats of the afflicted by 20

**Sonata of the Just, Rank B** – a morale boosting sonata to rally forces. Raises stats of friendly units by 5 for each friendly target.

**Death's Wail, Rank B** – a geas disguised as an ear-piercing wail. Afflicts target with Silence and prevents the use of their skills and spells.

**Gentle Lullaby, Rank B** – a sleep inducing lullaby. Afflicts target with Sleep.

**Song of the Night Sparrow** – a song sung by Mystia's youkai ancestors. Afflicts target with incurable Blind so long as Mystia can sing.

**Weapon Mastery –Staff-, Rank B** – Mystia possesses great skill with her Songstress Staff

**Weapon Mastery –Dagger-, Rank C** – Mystia possesses above average skill with her Feather Daggers

**Focus** – hastens Mana recovery.

(9) Border of Class (9)

_Cirno_: Mystia is both a dangerous offensive magic user and a skilled buffer/debuffer apparently. Thank goodness she didn't use that debilitating debuff and Song of the Night Sparrow on us…Too bad she's a squishy wizard. Now that we newcomers are out of the way, let's go and see what Flower Master's stats are!

(9) Border of Class (9)

Name: Kazami, Yuuka

Title: Flower Master

Magic/Special Ability: able to make any kind of flower grow anywhere.

Focus/Weapon: Floral Parasol (+100 to Mana, +60 to Magical Attack, +30 to Magical Defense)

Stats:

Endurance: 90/100

Mana: 300/100

Physical Attack: 80/100

Physical Defense: 80/100

Magical Attack: 160/100

Magical Defense: 80/100

Speed: 80/100

Luck: 70/100

Spells and Skills:

**Reflowering, Rank EX** – Yuuka's ability to grow any kind of flower anywhere regardless of conditions and grant them enchantments. Rank EX makes them much more resilient to the point where they can be used as armor and weapon constructs.

**Photosynthesis, Rank EX** – Yuuka's connection with flowers is so intimate that she can even emulate them. This passive spell allows Yuuka to recover Mana at double her normal rate, store double the mana and removes hunger…Wait, what?

**Master Spark** – what happens when a basic magical beam is taken to its logical extreme. The number of beams can be increased through the use of Clone Familiar, Rank EX up to three.

**Clone Familiar, Rank EX** – creates an identical copy of herself to be used as a Familiar. Rank EX allows them to wield a perfect imitation of Yuuka's parasol as well as giving them Independent Action, Rank B.

**Closed Space "Mugenkan"** – Yuuka creates her own personal Closed Space where it is _always_ sunny, even when it rains. Since this space is connected to her and all the flowers in this space have Photosynthesis, Rank EX, there's virtually no way to survive a fight against her in Mugenkan.

**Weapon Mastery –Sword-, Rank A** – Yuuka is a master swordmaiden which she uses to devastating effect with her Floral Parasol.

(9) Border of Class (9)

_Cirno_: With age comes experience. Flower Master is a master of destructive magic and her mastery of the blade makes her a terrifying opponent up close or from afar. To make matters worse for her enemies she has a massive pool of mana to draw from, incredibly fast mana recovery and she makes use of the adage "Divide and Conquer". Many Magi can call themselves veterans, but Yuuka is among only a handful of Magi who can call themselves masters of the arcane arts.

_Cirno_: Remember to study all the material we covered today! Class dismissed!

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: Curse you, site formatting! You deprived me of the awesomeness known as teh Nineball! Guess I'll have to settle for my cheap (9) imitation...Tirade aside, I'd like to applaud you for reading all the way to the end of this Stage. For those curious, this Stage (including the omake) is 13, 534 words. While this is far from being the longest single entry on this site, long chapter is long (it's certainly the longest chapter I've ever written). Now onto comments on the story itself.<p>

Now that we've arrived at the 3rd Stage, we're finally starting to get into the Incident itself. I think it goes without saying that there are _way_ more Magi that are gonna pop up as the story goes on. While I can't say that every Touhou character will make an appearance (I would think that there's at least more than a hundred), I'll try to get as many of them in even if it's just a cameo appearance. I was also wondering what you, the readers, think of the _Cirno's Perfect Magus Class_ omake; should I include it in future Stages or drop it?

As always, positive criticism and reviews are much appreciated.

This is the author, Daemon, signing out.

...oh, cliffhangers also leave you wanting more, doesn't it?


	5. Fun With Numbers Arc Stage IV

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

Altered plot point continues in this chapter for those of you who have read past this point.

For those who haven't...well...Just try to imagine you saw a ninja failing epically at sneaking around...

Or something.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Fun With Numbers Arc<em>

Stage 4: Of Invasion and Missing Friends

John sat at his booth in the Human Village where today he was selling hamburgers. He still couldn't believe, even now, that his parents had actually bought Yukari's crap about Alice Academy. To be fair, he did have a much more exciting life in Gensokyo- the first thing he got to do was get his ass kicked by Reimu in a Spellcard Duel. Somehow, he also managed to pick up a harem…or, at least, that's what the girls who were smitten with him believed.

All in all, John's life was more exciting if not necessarily better.

"How are things going, Kyon-kun?"

The one who asked this question was Shino. She had been doing well ever since she moved to Gensokyo, her spare time spent at the Scarlet Devil Mansion's _Voile Library_ where she had become an apprentice of sorts to Patchouli. Nowadays it was rare to not see her wear the purple long coat that denoted her as Patchouli's apprentice.

There's also the matter of how she managed to _become_ Patchouli's apprentice, but let's just say that for everything that money can't buy, there's hentai yuri _Touhou_ doujins.

"Better than usual, I suppose," John answered. "You're going to keep calling me 'Kyon', aren't you?"

"Obvious answer is obvious" Shino replied.

"So how's the mage training going with Patchy?" the boy asked while he served one of the villagers a hamburger.

"She said I'm doing surprisingly well for a novice. I have a basic grasp of her seven element system, but I seem to have a natural affinity for Fire Sign and Metal Sign spells. You?"

"My apprenticeship with the Kappas is going okay so far," John replied, "But I seem to be missing a Knightmare Frame I just finished building along with my custom built Raising Heart Excellion."

Shino had to suppress a giggle at the mention of Raising Heart thanks to a minor programming mishap that resulted in John crossdressing every time he activated it.

Sadly, that's fixed now.

The two continued to chat about how their respective training was going. The two had picked up magic after some prompting by Yukari. The Kappas invited John after he proved that literally any theoretical technology or science from the Outside World worked in Gensokyo- proven after he built a giant mecha powered by love that flipped the bird at the Square-Cube Law. His next project after that was seeing if he could build an Intelligent Device. Other than the whole 'I forgot the Barrier Jacket was originally designed to be worn by a nine year old Magical Girl', it worked out splendidly.

Shino chose to pursue her dream of being a Magical Girl by bribing Patchouli for magic lessons. Just as John's belief that anything was possible in Gensokyo led to his success, so did Shino's dream of being a Magical Girl. This led to her quickly grasping Patchouli's seven element system without developing any nasty health conditions primarily because she avoided contact with mercury and arsenic. While this reduced her effectiveness with Moon Sign and Water Sign spells, she had a natural affinity for Fire Sign and Metal Sign spells despite never having used magic before. There was also mention that she might have an exceptional alignment with Love Sign magic, but Patchouli refused to disclose more than that.

Their peaceful discussion of their successes was disrupted when the sky overhead turned black as if it was plagued. This taint then shattered like glass leaving a gaping violet portal above the Settlement, their home. The two immediately took to the skies and raced back to the Settlement as fast as they could.

Hopefully they can add 'Become a Hero/Heroine' to their list of accomplishments…

**-Border of Reality-**

'_My head hurts_…'

That was the first thought to cross Mystia's mind. She had just had a strange dream where she suddenly became a Magical Girl and was being possessed by a strange entity and was forced to fight her friends- also Magical Girls. The one thing she couldn't understand was what the school's gardener (she didn't even know her name…) and Hakurei-senpai were doing in her dreams…Perhaps they were just stand-ins?

"Oh? A stand-in, am I? Twenty years of dedication to the art of magic combat and I end up as a stand-in? Truly fate is a cruel mistress…"

Mystia simply stared at the source of the voice. It was the school's gardener, a fairly youthful woman despite being almost fifty. She was still wearing her long, red plaid skirt, but wasn't wearing a top of any kind if the bloody bandages were anything to go by.

"What are you doing in my room?" Mystia asked the unnamed gardener. Somehow, she managed to overlook the bloody bandages; that or she was still in denial about the possibility of her dream actually having happened.

"Your room?" the gardener asked in confusion. "You're Lorelei-san, correct?"

"Yes, I am. Now answer my question…What are you doing in my room?"

Another woman walked into her 'room'. Mystia wasn't sure who she was. The woman was wearing a red button-up shirt and a dark blue skirt over which she wore a white lab coat. Her long silver hair, easily reaching past her waist was done up into a single, large braid.

"For starters, this is Whiterock-san's room," the woman in red and blue answered for the gardener, "Note how she and Nightbug-san are sleeping on either side of you."

Mystia's jaw was slightly hanging open at the realization that Cirno and Wriggle were in fact asleep on either side of her. While she knew Flandre, either through choice or naïve innocence, was attracted to girls, Mystia was quite certain Cirno and Wriggle were not. Normally, Mystia would have simply attributed this situation to a sleepover as Cirno's four poster king sized bed was more than large enough to accommodate the three of them. She was about to too, if it weren't for Cirno suddenly trying to wrestle her back into her embrace by groping her breast.

"…stupid pillow…stop moving…!" Cirno grumbled in her sleep.

Mystia would have been thankful that Wriggle did not follow suit if it weren't for the fact that she was certain that the second pillow Wriggle was resting her head upon was what Cirno had meant to grab instead.

"Ah, to be young again…" The gardener let out a nostalgic sigh before accepting a cup of tea from the silver haired woman.

"I'm Doctor Eirin Yagokoro," the silver haired woman introduced herself, "Do you what you're doing in Whiterock Manor?"

Mystia gave the room a very thorough look over. The doctor was right; this, in fact, was not her room, but Cirno's. Mystia had been in Cirno's room plenty of times before for reasons ranging from sleepovers to study sessions. One of the main things that she realized should have stood out to her right from the beginning was the color and designs on the wall. Her room was painted a pale pink and was plain as she was despite her family being fairly wealthy; she was never one for extravagance anyway. Cirno's room was painted a calming sky blue with beautiful snowflakes (which Cirno even went out of her way to paint each in a different design just like real snowflakes) which gave her room the appearance of a calm flurry on a clear day.

Mystia also realized that she didn't have a four poster, king sized bed; given that she was currently on it she probably should have realized sooner.

"I remember having this weird dream where I was a possessed Magical Girl, but I don't remember anything from before I passed out…" Mystia answered. "Well, I do remember, but it's too hazy right now for me to recall things specifically…"

"Hmm, so Historia Devourer was right after all; whoever possessed her covered their tracks…" The gardener let out an annoyed sigh when she realized that the trail of the Anomaly had gone cold again.

"I don't really care for all this magic stuff really; I'm just glad Lorelei-san is alright," replied Yagokoro-sensei even though the gardener was simply thinking out loud, "Speaking of…How are you feeling, Lorelei-san?"

"Err…A little sore and I have a bit of a headache, but other than that I'm feeling fine…"

"A headache only? Surely having a reinforced gohei, a metal chair and a flip kick to the head would have left you with a concussion? Perhaps that Anomaly reinforced your body as well…" Yagokoro-sensei mumbled to herself as she wrote down some notes in a notepad she was carrying. "I suppose there's not much else I can do for you except ask you to get some rest. You're quite lucky that it's now the weekend rather than a school day."

"So all that…really happened?"

"Correct, Lorelei-san. You have Awakened as a Magus, a user of magic. There is some paperwork we'll need to get out of the way, but you're tired, I'm tired and Historia Devourer is busy. Consequently, I'll let you rest now."

The seemingly injured gardener bowed respectfully with a slight cringe. "Possessed or not, none have ever bested me in battle before; I look forward to seeing you blossom, Lorelei-san."

"Umm, thanks?"

Mystia was pretty sure that she had left the wrong impression on the battle-loving gardener (Whose name she _still_ doesn't know). Within their small, but close knit, group of friends, Mystia was their voice of reason; Cirno may have been their leader, but it was Mystia who kept everyone together and in line. She was the only one among them who others considered normal; it was, ironically enough, her defining trait. Average build, average beauty, average grades, average talents…Everything about her was normal and average; Wriggle had often compared her to some light novel character named Kyon, not that she knew who that was.

Often she wished that she was, well, different. Even if some people thought Cirno was a jerk, she sometimes wished she could be as proud of herself as Cirno was. She wanted to be proud of her intelligence, of her beauty, of her talents, but being average she never really drew attention to any of that.

Other times she wished she was as easy-going as Rumia, to simply have a simple life regardless of what others thought of her. Alas, like any normal person, she couldn't help but worry about her life.

Wriggle herself was quite envious. She was like Cirno, proud of her talents and accomplishments, but she was more humble than her; something that has earned the respect of others assuming her strength hadn't. Mystia wanted to be just as strong as her, to be able to compensate for her shortcomings with nothing more than sheer determination and a strong will.

Though rare, Mystia sometimes wanted to be just like Flandre. Her lesbian friend was quite an enigma, even to her own family and Kirisame-senpai. Mystia wanted to be the unknown so she could be the Blackhorse, to surprise everyone with the unexpected.

There was also Daiyousei, Cirno's cousin, but they effectively walked the same path, just in different ways (that and Daiyousei was much more popular than her by being exactly like Hakurei-senpai and Kotiya-senpai, a good girl idol, except she was in Mystia's year). Whereas Mystia approached their problems with the cold, unbiased logic of the mind, Daiyousei solved hers with the warmth, biased feelings of the heart. It was for that reason that Mystia's friends approach Daiyousei first, only asking for Mystia's help as a last resort even though they didn't realize that, in the end, it was Mystia who fixed things. Still…to be so kind and approachable…Mystia truly envied that.

Mystia quickly grounded herself out of her melancholic thoughts when she realized she was being a bit too much like that eternally jealous third year, Mizuhashi-senpai.

Having had enough of resting (and Cirno's reluctance to release her chest), Mystia pried Cirno's groping hand off her. Before the cyan haired genius could resume her efforts at groping Mystia, Mystia substituted herself with her own pillow. Finding a suitable, and more cooperative, replacement for the pillow Wriggle somehow managed to steal, Cirno drew it to her and hugged it with a contented and absolutely adorable squeal.

'_If the guys ever found out that the cold, overbearing beauty that is Cirno could be this cute her fanbase would surely increase nine fold…And that would be a pain in the ass; best not to let anyone ever know about this…_'

Now free of the groping Cirno, Mystia carefully crawled out of bed so as not to wake either Wriggle or Cirno. It was time for her to do what she did best (not that she herself actually knew or agreed) and cook breakfast to apologize.

Whiterock Manor was by far one of the three largest homes in the region of Gensokyo. Unlike the Western style mansion that was the Scarlet Mansion or the Eastern style mansion that was Eientei, Whiterock Manor stood out for being a castle. Mystia had no idea why the Whiterocks had a Western castle in Japan although she remembered Cirno telling her that this was one of the smaller ones amongst the many they owned throughout the world. There was also the one time Wriggle made an off-hand comment about how Whiterock Manor looked _exactly_ like Einzbern Castle of Fate/Stay Night fame which was impossible since Whiterock Manor was built long before Fate/Stay Night was even conceived.

Mystia wondered if someone broke the Fourth Wall.

Having familiarized herself with the Manor's layout from her many visits, Mystia made her way to the kitchen. After passing by a clock on her way downstairs Mystia realized that she was up rather early with early being six in the morning. Every so often she spotted one of the maids working in the Manor flit by going about their daily duties. Mystia was hoping none of them have gotten around to making breakfast yet; making breakfast for Wriggle and Cirno was the least she could do to make up for the trouble she inadvertently caused last night.

"Last night still bothering you?"

Mystia turned around and found herself face to face with Letty, Cirno's older sister.

'_How'd she sneak up on me?_'

Unlike Daiyousei, Cirno and Cirno's mother, Letty kept her hair fairly short since it barely reached her shoulders. She was also more simplistic and practical than her younger sister and cousin; '_Utility before Vanity_' was practically her motto.

"Bet you're wondering how I snuck up on you, huh?" Letty asked Mystia.

"Magic?"

"Hell no! Can't use magic for everything, you know? No, I had to learn to sneak around using my own skill; having a former Magus Killer for a dad doesn't exactly make it easy to sneak out on late night romantic rendezvous…"

"Yeah, that would be a pain in the ass…" Mystia agreed.

'_Now I just have to find someone who'd actually ask me out…_'

"So you're alright then? I heard from Doctor Yagokoro that you took quite a beating…" Letty asked as she slipped into the role of the caring older sister.

"Cirno had it rougher…from what I remember anyway…" noted Mystia as the memories of last night's battle returned to her, "She'll be fine, right? Wriggle wasn't really hurt; she a bit worn out yeah, but not hurt."

"Yep, Cirno'll be fine; I've beaten her worse for her stupidity before~!"

Mystia pouted at Letty's choice of words. "I know Cirno can be a real pain in the ass, but she's just trying to prove herself to the world…Please don't hurt her…much."

"Yeah, yeah…Geez, are you her wife or something?" Letty retorted. Oh, she'd keep her promise to Mystia, but 'much' was quite open to interpretation; that and the only time she had ever actually hurt Cirno was during their training exercises (which would be the only time she would ever even consider hurting her little sister).

With her encounter with Letty now behind her, Mystia returned to her original goal of preparing breakfast. Despite her fairly wealthy upbringing, Mystia often found herself cooking and cleaning after her friends. She never really knew why she did; sometimes she merely did so out of habit rather than conscious thought. At first she simply thought it was due to the stereotypical role of a woman in society being ingrained in her mind. Her father had countered that early on stating that one should not bind themselves to tradition so strictly lest the path to progress be halted.

Now within the kitchen, Mystia set out to make enough omelets for everyone; even the staff. She gathered all the utensils and ingredients she would need for it. Everyone who had ever eaten anything she cooked knew that her omelets were the best; everything about her omelets from their taste to their scent was as close to perfect as a flawed human being could get. The only person who would say otherwise would be her own mother who had serious issues with any kind of avian based product. It seems stupid at first glance, but it certainly makes much more sense when one realizes Mystia's mother's side of the family is descended from the last of the night sparrow youkai.

So focused was Mystia on the task at hand, one she refined to near perfection at her father's request, that she didn't even notice as another person walked into the kitchen.

_~Border of Fantasy~_

The dimensionally displaced Reimu and Marisa joined John and Shino while they were en route to the Settlement. None of the four really knew what was going on, but Reimu made mention of something being broken. While she wasn't the Reimu responsible for the Great Hakurei Barrier, the other three knew that the thing that broke was the Barrier.

The real question was what broke it and what was coming through it.

The closer the four got to the Settlement, the louder the sounds of gunfire and explosions seemed to ring out. Marisa herself wasn't really familiar with the sound of a gun being fired, but the other three were. This led to the three of them concluding that there was definitely something wrong in the Settlement.

Reimu broke off from the flight formation when she spotted a young boy cornered by a pack of what she could only be described as a feral dust bunny. The Gate of Babylon rippled behind her as a familiar staff was launched from it. The pink, white and gold staff was nothing more than a blur before it pierced right through the monster attacking the boy. John quickly flew down to retrieve his staff and ensure the boy flew off safely.

"Raising Heart, Set Up!"

A pink light enveloped John before he emerged wearing a white and blue long coat with matching pants, boots and gauntlets. A large pack of the same beasts that tried to attack the boy rushed towards John.

[Axel Mode] the Device intoned. John attached a magazine to the shaft of the Device and aimed it at the oncoming mob.

[Axel Shooter] the Device said. John jumped back up in the air and aimed his staff at his enemies. On his augmented reality heads up display a red ring appeared around the targets he locked on to. Pulling the trigger caused several beams of brilliant pink magic to shoot out, each one homing in on their targets. Those that managed to evade or weren't locked on to were finished off by Marisa's Magic Missiles.

"I was wondering where you went…" John said to Raising Heart.

[It is nice to see you again, Master,] Raising Heart replied. [I hope my absence did not cause you any trouble.]

Marisa whistled innocently which earned her a smack on the head from John.

"Bad Marisa," scolded Reimu, "No internet for you!"

With their brief moment of humor over, and Marisa left in despair, they made their way deeper into the Settlement. More of the feral dust bunnies attacked them though most of them were repelled either by Reimu's Rho Aias or John's Protection barrier. Marisa would then spray them with Meteoric Debris if Shino missed them with Summer Flame.

"This is the worst invasion force…ever…of all time" John noted as he finished off one of the dust bunnies with extreme prejudice using Divine Buster at point blank range.

"They're probably just their cannon fodder" Reimu said to him while she impaled yet another of the beasts with one of the Gate's spears.

"So where's their main force?"

Marisa's question was answered when a hulking knight in black armor tried to bisect the petite witch.

"Fire Metal Sign 'Blazing Forge'!" cried out Shino.

Several fiery orbs came to life around Shino, one of her hands reaching into it. She pulled out a katana from it and used it to parry the knight's sword. Though the knight's stronger attack irreparably damaged Shino's weapon, it bought Reimu enough time to impale the knight with one of her legendary lances. More of these knights crowded around the four. After eliminating more of them, the four realized only Reimu's legendary Noble Phantasms and John's defense piercing Axel Shooter could damage the seemingly magic resistant knights.

As if to make matters worse, there were mages that sometimes accompanied the knights and the beasts. These annoying new additions were capable of casting a wide variety magic, most of them devastating area-of-effect spells. Thankfully these mages only had their golden robes to protect them, their pitiful defenses unable to protect them from Marisa's mach speed airborne tackles and Shino's seemingly endless array of forged weapons.

After clearing out the area that they had gotten cornered in for the third time in less than an hour, John flew high above the Settlement.

[Wide Area Search]

The girls who were with John flew up to where he was scanning the Settlement. Seeing them there, Raising Heart projected an augmented reality map of the Settlement. While Marisa was busy being awed by how John was doing that, Shino and Reimu tracked hundreds of blinking red orbs moving through the Settlement. Shino saw that their enemies were deploying from the Square, the center of the Settlement where the residential, institutional, agricultural and industrial area seemed to meet. Green orbs marked the Settlement's defense force which primarily consisted of Outsiders armed with a variety of firearms from differing times and places though there was the odd magician or youkai amongst their ranks. All of these orbs had formed a perimeter around the shelters built for situations like this.

"Hey, those green orbs seen to be scaring away the blinking red ones, ze."

Marisa was referring to the odd space between the defense force, the green orbs, and the invaders, the blinking red orbs. John corrected Marisa and told her that the invaders were actually _going around_ the defense force. Switching to a more detailed view, namely chibi representations of their enemies, John noticed something even stranger. Despite their overwhelming numbers compared to the defense force, the supposed 'invaders' were actually spreading out into much smaller groups that seemed to be searching for someone or something. The largest of these groups numbered in at two dozen of the beasts, six knights and three mages while smaller groups had less than ten in total.

John shared his observations with the group. "They're looking for something or someone…"

"Yeah," Reimu agreed, "Their groups are way too small; it'd just be easier for them to storm each of the shelters one by one with their full force."

"But who or what are they looking for?"

[Two unidentified signatures located,] Raising Heart said to answer Shino, [Species: Human, Magical Capacity: Unknown.]

Raising Heart added a pair of blinking yellow orbs to the map. One of the yellow orbs was slightly ahead of the other which meant that one was leading the other. Behind them two of the larger groups were pursuing them relentlessly and it was clear that the two would not be able to outrun them forever.

"We're saving them" John declared.

Reimu nodded.

Marisa smirked.

"Obvious choice is obvious."

**-Border of Reality-**

_BOO!_

_WAH!_

Mystia leapt a good foot into the air before landing on the ground on her rear. Just like with Letty, someone had snuck up on her without alerting her to their presence. She looked back and saw a pair of wine red eyes and wavy blonde hair.

It was Rumia.

"Yo, how's it going?"

"What the hell, Rumi-chan?" Mystia screamed out as she picked herself up off the ground.

"Ah, come on, it was just good natured fun!" Rumia replied with a sinister smirk on her face.

No, it was not just 'good natured fun'. Mystia had been in the process of cutting up some bell peppers for her omelets. This meant that she was holding a knife; one which she almost stabbed herself with. Even now Mystia stared at the knife held in her trembling hands, thinking how close it was to spilling her own lifeblood. Mystia used much of her own will and upbringing to keep herself from punching out Rumia. The girl could be silly and annoying as all hell, but she was never malicious. It disturbed Mystia greatly that Rumia was looking at her with a great deal of disappointment as if not stabbing herself was some kind of failure.

"You're not wearing that ribbon you always have" Mystia commented to stop her thoughts from racing.

"Oh, that stupid thing? It was fucking ugly so I got rid of it" Rumia replied nonchalantly.

This excuse could have worked if Rumia didn't wear her signature red ribbon everywhere for everything. It mattered not whether she was in the realm of the unconscious or bathing, her ribbon never _**EVER**_ came off. To Mystia this could have been interpreted as a strange, meaningless quirk, something not unlike her mother's hatred for avian based products, but the recent entrance of magic in her life made her wonder. She knew for a fact that Rumia's ribbon never came off, not even when it should, which meant that there was the very probable possibility that it was magical in nature. This thought disturbed Mystia further since something that was enchanted (_'Or whatever these Magi call it…_') to never come off usually had a good reason why it was so. Her friend suddenly acting so maliciously when by all accounts she shouldn't, and had no reason to be, made Mystia wonder if, god forbid, her ribbon was some kind of seal, something meant to keep something that was not meant to be locked away for everyone's safety.

Before Mystia could explore this possibility, Rumia said to her, "Well, I just wanted to drop by and check up on you. Tell the Whiterock sisters Daiyousei says 'hi'. Toddles~!"

And just as she snuck in, Rumia snuck out becoming one with the shadows.

"Lorelei-san, are you alright? You seem to be…disturbed."

Just as sneaky as Letty and Rumia, Cirno's father walked into the kitchen. He was holding a coffee mug adorned with a graffiti style image of a young pinkette clad in an equally pink magical girl outfit, the backs of her gloved hands showing 'Magi' and 'Lyfe' in that order. The black aviator sunglasses and oversized golden arrow necklace that hung around her neck only served to make Mystia think of a stereotypical Western gangster.

It was most certainly not what she expected to be on the coffee mug of the so called 'Magus Killer'.

"Ah, this?" Cirno's father gestured at his coffee mug, "I wanted the Homura-chan one, but it was sold out…Damn fanboys…"

"I, uh, heard you used to be something called a 'Magus Killer'; I wasn't expecting you to have a Madoka-chan mug…"

"Ah, those were the days…But I just couldn't keep living that life for my wife's, and my daughters', sake. So, to answer your question, yes, I was once a Magus Killer, one who slew Magi for profit, but I am no longer one…Although that 'friend' of yours certainly made my trigger finger very itchy…" the Magus Killer replied while he eyed an inconspicuous cupboard.

"Actually, I was wondering about that…Do you Magi have enchanted items used to seal, say, a manifestation of all the world's evils?" She thought the last part was a bit excessive, but vague memories of her play-through of Fate/Stay Night caused her to choose that particular BGM for an example.

Little did she know how dead on she was.

"Plenty; far too much for my liking in fact…Why do you ask?"

"Rumia is _nothing_ like that; she's actually a very sweet, if not a tad mischievous, girl. I had a fleeting thought that maybe her red ribbon was some kind of seal and now it refuses to leave my mind…" Mystia's gaze lingered on the knife in her hand.

"…I've always thought that girl to be strange; her dormant magical energy reeks of dark magic. I still have enough connections in Clock Tower and Tokyo Tower to see if that girl has any connections to any of the recorded seals. Would you like me to investigate?" offered Cirno's father.

Mystia thought about it. She didn't want to betray Rumia's privacy, but her abrupt change in behaviour warranted investigation. Hopefully, Mystia thought, her suspicions were for nothing. And so, she replied.

"Yes, please. Any help you can provide would be most appreciated."

"Very well then. I must say, had we met long ago I would have asked you to be my apprentice. Aren't you glad that part of my life is now a lifetime away?"

Mystia chuckled. "Yeah, definitely. Oh, by the way, Rumia told me to tell you that Daiyousei says hello."

The man's impassive gaze hardened. "Daiyousei hasn't come home yet. She said she was going to have dinner at _Lorelei_ with Ru- Oh shit."

Mystia looked at him in confusion until the full reality of the situation hit her like a shit ton of bricks.

_Possibly Evil!Rumia +Missing Magus = This will not end well_

"Oh shit indeed."

_~Border of Fantasy~_

"Well, shit."

"Indeed."

These words passed between John and Reimu when they realized that _every single_ invader in the Settlement suddenly surrounded them.

The four of them sought out the mysterious pair of newcomers who were being pursued by an army several hundred strong. With a snap of her fingers, Reimu rained down a storm of legendary blades onto the pair's pursuers. The sole survivor out of the pursuers was taken down by a brunette dressed in black and white when she picked up one of the swords Reimu launched and thrust it through the remaining mage.

"No one hurts Maribel!" the brunette cried out in while panting for breath, "_**NO ONE!**_"

"I-It's okay now, Renko…" The blonde the brunette was trying to protect placed her hands on Renko's own, gently forcing her to lower the sword.

"She should be fine," Shino said to Maribel after she landed next to them, "She's just a little on edge."

"Oi, Reimu, I kinda need all those weapons you threw out by the time I die, ze" Marisa reminded Reimu.

Reimu responded, "Its fine, I automatically send them back into the Gate once they've done their jobs."

"I would just like to kindly remind everyone that we're still surrounded."

The previous group of enemies seemed like a drop in the ocean compared to the group that now surrounded them. The feral beasts which resembled evil dust bunnies were so tightly packed together that they looked like a single black cloud filled with voracious, glowing red eyes. Behind them were the knights, these ones equipped with shields large enough to completely obscure them, lined up in such a way that they formed a near seamless wall. Somewhere behind the wall of knights were the mages who were probably ready to spam an unholy barrage of area-of-effect spells for massive overkill.

"A thousand yen says Reimu's Rho Aias will last longer than John's Protection barrier" Shino said in jest as she placed herself between her enemies and the girls they were supposed to protect.

Marisa tossed her mini-hakkero up and down in her hand. "I'll bet one thousand yen on John then; the power of love overcomes all, ze!"

John and Reimu ignored the two. "I can probably get rid of about fifty with one sweep of Divine Buster. I can probably finish most of them off with Starlight Breaker, but I'll need to wait for those mages to hit us first."

"Alright, I'll form a palisade from some spears and lances," Reimu replied, "Hopefully that'll hold off those weird dust bunnies and the knights long enough for you to cast both Divine Buster and Starlight Breaker."

"On my mark…" John said to Reimu.

"Synched" Reimu replied.

"Mark!"

As soon as John said that a curtain of lances and spears crashed down all around them forming a crude palisade. The beasts all charged in at the same time only for them to be wiped out in an instant through a combination of magical bomb potions thrown by Marisa and a wall of swords formed by Shino.

John loaded three of the six magic charged cartridges in his Device's magazine before flying up high enough to shoot over Reimu's makeshift barrier. Together with Raising Heart, John ran the calculations for power output, targeting and friend/foe identification. Once he completed, John aimed his Device at a group of knights who were protecting mages that were ready to fire.

[Divine Buster]

A section of the knights' shield wall simply disappeared under the beam's overwhelming magical onslaught while the rest wavered from the resulting shockwave. Marisa and Shino quickly moved into the gap where they casted Master Spark and successive Fire Metal Sign 'St. Elmo's Pillar' respectively. The two retreated within the palisade while Reimu quickly set up Rho Aias over them as the mages completed their spells faster than Marisa and Shino could attack them. With Rho Aias and the wall of Noble Phantasms protecting him, John was able to draw in enough energy from all the spells cast to let loose one of the most devastating spells in his arsenal safely.

[Starlight Breaker]

Raising Heart's calm, emotionless voice betrayed the sheer destructive potential of the spell John had just casted; only a hastily cast Protection spell saved John and the others from being caught up in Starlight Breaker. Blinding pink light surrounded them from all sides which was accompanied by a deafening roar that had no business being affiliated with a pink magical beam. Even with their superior magic resistance, the mages were simply wiped out by the torrent of raw magical energy along with any of the beasts and knights that remained. By the time Starlight Breaker finally died down, no enemy remained in range.

"Now that," Marisa said in awe, "Is how you do overkill."

_~Border of Fantasy~_

The battle to clear out the Settlement raged for another hour after that. The Outsiders and their allies were shocked by the sight of the denizens of Gensokyo all working together to help them out- really, any day when you can find Mokou and Kaguya _working together_ should be considered shocking. Whoever or whatever opened the portal above the Settlement closed it once it was obvious that not even a battle of attrition was going to secure their targets. Cries of victory rang out amongst the fighters once the last bastion of invaders were routed out and absolutely destroyed.

At the head of this combined army was none other than Yukari Yakumo. She surveyed the bodies of the fallen enemies in an attempt to ascertain the identity of their attackers. Unfortunately for her, these bodies proceeded to vanish before their borders and boundaries could reveal any useful information.

"Yakumo-sama, Chen has found those whom you seek" Ran the Shikigami informed her master.

Yukari hid the lower part of her face behind her paper fan to hide her displeasure at the Great Hakurei Barrier collapsing. The end result wasn't as bad as she expected- Gensokyo still existed after all- but she was certain more meddlesome newcomers would come to her realm. "They better be interesting considering the trouble they caused…"

Yukari and Ran altered the boundary around them to transport them to Chen's location. They arrived to a scene of Reimu, Marisa, John and Shino trying to catch the little nekomata after she stole Renko's bowler hat. Reimu reached into the Gate of Babylon and pulled out Enkidu which she used to snare Chen's leg. This resulted in the cutest faceplant anyone had seen.

"Chen," her master/mother said in a scolding tone, "What did I tell you about stealing other people's things?"

"Wait for Marisa to arrive and blame it on her, nya."

"I'm right here" the witch in question replied. She was clearly not pleased by this revelation.

"Relax, we wouldn't believe her anyway since you clearly didn't steal it" Shino said to support the thieving witch.

"As for the other stuff…well…" Reimu really did want to back up her newfound friend, but considering she had an entire section of the treasury known as the Gate of Babylon reserved for things labelled 'Stuff that Belongs to Marisa but Doesn't Actually Belong to Her'…well…

"Yeah, ha ha, very funny, now let's get down to business."

It was John who interrupted the conversation that was clearly going nowhere. He explained to Yukari about how he noticed the deployment pattern of the supposed 'invaders' didn't match up with how a force with overwhelming- at times seemingly limitless- numbers should fight. This led to his idea of using his Wide Area Search spell to see if there was anyone outside of the shelters that wasn't an Outsider or part of the defense force.

The rest is, as Keine would say, history.

After John explained the events that transpired, he let the two girls introduce themselves. The brunette with the bowler hat was named Renko Usami while the blonde with the white mob cap was Maribel Hearn. They were apparently students at Kyoto University, or rather former students.

They regaled those present with a story about how a physics experiment that was being conducted went awry creating a connection to some other strange dimension. While the creation of this connection was relatively benign, the beings that came out of the other dimension were not. The weakest of these invaders were the enemies that they had faced today, the beasts, knights and mages. The military of their world scoffed at these archaic invaders and simply gunned them down. Those that came after could only be described as eldritch abominations and death machines as they laid waste to all those that would oppose them with contemptuous ease.

The destruction of the Great Hakurei Border was due to Maribel's clumsy attempt at breaching the border between their world and Gensokyo to escape. While this didn't alleviate Yukari's frustration at having to find a way to restore the old barrier or erect a new one, she could at least appreciate that the two were desperate and are quite possibly the last of their civilization.

Yukari gave up on hiding how she felt. "That barrier took me millennia to prepare and then I had to sacrifice my pride by working with lowly humans to make it a reality."

"I-I'm sorry, but I was scared and- and-" Maribel was on the verge of tears and Renko's expression made it clear she was just about ready to punch Yukari in the face, ability to warp reality or not.

"Please, at least understand that one's pride is important to a youkai-" Whatever else Ran was going to say in Yukari's defense was cut off by Yukari herself.

"Pride or not, Gensokyo's safety is my first and foremost concern," Yukari explained, "What you have done is endanger not just the realm itself, but everyone in it, both native and foreign."

Yukari continued. "But I also understand your plight. When it comes down to it, Gensokyo is a sanctuary; to deny those who have a genuine need of it would be contradictory to its purpose."

"Consequently, you two will be helping me fix the Barrier or, failing that, create a new one that will ensure our realm's security. I care not whether you think this reparation is disproportionate or not as the safety of this realm roughly translates to _your_ safety."

"If they're from a world beyond Gensokyo, do you think I can go back?" Reimu requested.

Yukari shook her head. "Not when what remains of the broken barrier is unstable; I'd be more likely to transport you to some kind of void or abstract space than your own world."

Reimu's spirits sunk as long as Maribel and Renko's.

"Come along then you two," Yukari said to Gensokyo's newest citizens, "I have much to teach you if we are to repair the damage you caused."

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: And plot! Again, I apologize for the long delay. This Stage was much shorter than my other ones and it made me feel bad that it also took longer than any of the Stages to be posted. Thankfully, Cirno's dad and Mystia are much more genre savvy than they really should be. Now we have an idea who is behind Wriggle's attack and who possessed Mystia. Yes, Rumia's ribbonamulet-thingy has been missing since _before_ Stage 3. Anyone who has sufficient knowledge of Touhou fanworks knows what this inevitably leads to. However, we're still only at Stage 4 and the next Stage will not feature the inevitable showdown with EX-Rumia; that's for this arc's finale. As always, reviews are appreciated.

This is the author, Daemon, signing out.

...Oh, and what happened to Flandre this Stage I wonder...


	6. Fun With Numbers Arc Stage V

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

No witty comments this time; my muse is running out of fuel (aka Bernkastel Wine).

Enjoy!

Stage 5: Of Damsels in Distress and Distracted Antagonists

Three hours had passed since Mystia woke up to cook breakfast for all those who were in Whiterock Manor. In those three hours she learned three things:

1) She was a Magical Girl

2) Letty, Rumia and Cirno's father are _damn_ sneaky

3) Daiyousei may be in grave danger

Thus it came to pass that the Whiterock family remained at the table long after breakfast was over. Mystia sat beside Cirno's mother with Cirno and Letty seated beside each other while Cirno's father sat at the head of the table. Cirno's father had a laptop and microphone placed before him which he was using to video conference with his contacts in Clock and Tokyo Tower.

"Oh God, did you say the girl's name was Rumia?" fearfully asked one of his contacts.

"Did you not, like, hear him the first time, dumbass? You realize if you piss him off enough he could probably kill you where you stand without so much as lifting a finger…" another of his contacts responded.

"That's exaggeration," Cirno's father said to quiet the squabbling so he could get the information he needed, "Now if you were within two kilometers and I had one of my sniper rifles then that would be-"

"You're getting distracted, dear; we have a missing niece, remember?" Cirno's mother cut in gently though one could see she was starting to get irritated by how their discussion kept getting off topic; she was also eyeing an inconspicuous section of wall.

"Yes, about the girl named Rumia…According to what I could dig up at Clock Tower she was a failed experiment. Some foolish Magus thought he could strengthen himself by giving himself a youkai body that was designed to continuously generate dark magic. What the imbecile didn't account for was his new body taking a life of its own; thus the devil known as the Crucified Saint was born."

Letty added, "That and his new body was that of a little girl. Fetish maybe?"

Father Kirei replied, "Ugh…I would most certainly hope not…Anyhow, Clock Tower's church branch labelled her as a devil to be wiped off the face of the Earth; her ability to manipulate darkness was far too dangerous and 'unholy'. Tokyo Tower's Regina Diabolica disagreed with this decision. Instead she sought to supress the girl's corrupting magic which would allow the girl known as Rumia to live life as a relatively normal girl."

"It worked obviously; I take it the ribbon was her idea?" asked Cirno.

"From what the records say anyway; I'm beginning to think this 'Anomaly' Tokyo Tower is chasing around is one of our own up to some ridiculously zany stereotypical evil scheme…again…And here I thought the position of evil Magus belonged to me and me alone…" lamented Father Kirei.

"Give it up, Kotomine; I've kicked your ass far too many times for you to be even considered a competent villain anymore," Cirno's father said to the Clock Tower affiliated priest, "Now make yourself useful and tell us how we can track her down; dangerous or not she has our niece and I'd rather not wait and find out what will eventually happen to her…"

"That's easier said than done…" another of Cirno's father's associates said. "The ribbon was designed to overwrite the original 'Rumia's' mind in such a way so as to prevent further corruption. As a result she's probably not as malicious as she could be…"

"What do you mean?" Cirno asked.

"The original would be heavily affected by how her alternate self has been living. For example…"

**-Border of Reality-**

Daiyousei's head snapped to the side as Rumia, or some evil being that looked like her, slapped her with considerable force.

"How pathetic! You cannot even accomplish the simplest of tasks!" roared Rumia.

"If you wanted someone to bake cookies for you why didn't you just kidnap Mystia instead?" retorted an annoyed Daiyousei.

"You're annoying cousin and her allies broke her free of my control! To think…I could have had all the mouth-watering cookies my heart desired if it wasn't for those meddling children!"

"What are you, some kind of Scooby Doo villain?"

**-Border of Reality-**

Everyone who was part of the conference, save for the current speaker, had their jaws figuratively hitting the ground. The current speaker just explained how, thanks to the mind altering effects of Rumia's seal, they were effectively trying to find the littlest tyrant. Mystia shuddered in terror at how close she came to being kidnapped and possibly tortured all so she could bake Rumia's favourite cookies.

"So we should start searching areas Rumia frequents then?" Cirno's mother asked.

"Precisely," replied Father Kirei, "Know you any spots she likes?"

Cirno hummed thoughtfully before responding. "There's that ice cream parlor downtown!"

**-Border of Reality-**

"_AAHHHH, __**YES!**_** Don't stop filling me up!**" Rumia cried out as if she were having an orgasm.

Daiyousei, for her part, was slamming her head against the table.

Repeatedly.

She thought she could stop Rumia from abusing her further by bribing that small part of her that remained with her favourite drink, extra creamy vanilla milkshake with a maraschino cherry on top.

It was a very, _very_ bad idea.

Every time Rumia took a sip of her drink she would immediately proceed to moan or cry out as if she were perpetually stuck in the climax of a sexual act. Her impassioned cries of pleasure hadn't gone unnoticed either. Even from her seat, Daiyousei could see the bulges on many a males' pants and the wet panties of several females.

'_Isn't that Whiterock-chan…?_'

'_I didn't know she swung that way…!_'

'_I can die happy now!_'

Daiyousei shook her head upon hearing the hushed whispering in the ice cream parlor. This was _not_ how she wanted to spend her weekend…

"**WAITER!** Another round if you will!" Rumia ordered.

The patrons cheered.

Daiyousei head-desked.

'_God, smite me now…_'

**-Border of Reality-**

"Didn't she bring us to that seafood place once? What was it called…Ah, _Murasa_, that's what it was!" Letty added.

**-Border of Reality-**

"Ah, calamari, how I've missed you!" Rumia cried out before digging into her order of deep fried calamari.

'_How much food based sexual innuendo can she pull off…?_'

"Hey, Whiterock-san, treating your friend out for lunch?" asked one of the waitresses, a girl by the name of Minamitsu.

"…you could say that."

"Ah…_Ah_, so it's like that, huh? Don't worry, your secret is safe with me~."

"W-Wait! No! It's not like that!"

"The patrons certainly don't agree."

Minamitsu brought Daiyousei's attention to the patrons. Just like at the ice cream parlor they were staring at Rumia and her with varying levels of arousal. Why? Because of how Rumia was eating the calamari. Yes, Rumia has officially managed to make eating calamari look like some kind of sexual act.

Don't ask how.

Really, don't; keep those thoughts to yourself.

"You there, Captain, another order of calamari if you will!"

The patrons cheered.

Daiyousei head-desked.

'_I'm serious, smite me now…_'

**-Border of Reality-**

"I believe I'm noticing a trend here…" noted Father Kirei.

This trend that he spoke of was how all the places Rumia frequented was some kind of establishment which served food. While that narrowed down their search parameters it still left hundreds of such establishments to search.

"Yes, Rumia's appetite is rather insatiable…Perhaps it has something to do with her original self, Father Kirei?" Cirno inquired.

"Not at all," he replied coolly, "Your friend simply has a big appetite. If the information about her being kept here in Clock Tower is correct, then she still has much growing to do."

"Kire-chan, what did I tell you about being a creepy pervert priest?" Cirno's mother asked the priest.

Kirei, being far too serious for his own good, failed to see the joke he just set himself up for.

"I don't recall ever having a discussion about my being a 'creepy pervert priest'…" he replied.

"But what kind of priest keeps tabs on a growing girl?" Cirno's mother continued.

"A concerned one?" Father Kirei responded in all seriousness.

"Oh and how do I know you're not looking at her bust size right now?"

"What are you talking about? Why on Earth would they include bust size in a report- Huh…There _is_ an entry on her bust size…odd- Wait…_**NO! JUST NO!**_ It's not like that at all!" Father Kirei replied after finally realizing what he had set himself up for.

"Why so serious, Kire-chan?" Cirno's mother added for the punchline.

"Lady Whiterock, we are ready to deploy at your command. Should we begin searching the eating establishments throughout the city?" asked one of the many suspiciously identical maids.

"Yes, permission granted. Will you be joining them too, Wriggle-chan?"

Wriggle, clad in her Magus Robes, seemed to almost materialize out of nowhere. In truth, she was using a new trick she picked up from Cirno's father known as Presence Concealment. Applying knowledge of insect camouflage, Wriggle quickly learned how to augment her new spell to effectively make her invisible, both to the five senses and magical detection.

Except for Cirno's mother it would seem.

Wriggle nodded, her face completely hidden by the shadow of her hood, and proceeded to vanish from sight…and every other sense for that matter.

"Our family is weird and our friends are even weirder," Letty commented as she rose from the table. "I'll just go take the motorcycle and start searching myself."

"Wear your helmet" Cirno's father reminded her.

Letty rolled her eyes before smiling, "Duh, obviously. See you later, mom and dad; and Cirno, don't make things worse while we're gone."

Cirno's face contorted into one of rage. "Fall off your motorcycle and die!"

Letty simply laughed. "Knowing your luck, I probably will. Love you too sis."

Letty left the dining room and a minute later the sound of a motorcycle's engine revving could be heard. Soon after that the maids all began to file out of the room, sounds of various engines from all manner of vehicular transports being heard minutes later. Knowing that she faced a daunting task and that she would need all the help she could get, Cirno called Flandre.

"Flandre, do you have Kirisame-senpai's cell number?"

"Onee-sama's? Of course I do! Why do you need it though…?" Flandre asked, Clingy Mode in full effect.

"I require Hakurei-senpai's…expertise; unfortunately, I do not have her cell number."

"Oh, I guess if it's Hakurei-senpai you need then that's fine. I'll send you Onee-sama's number in a text so you can add it to your contact list in case you ever need it again."

After thanking Flandre, Cirno hung up and awaited Flandre's text impatiently. After tapping her feet for close to a minute, Cirno's cellphone rang to the familiar tune of _Tomboyish Girl in Love_; she knew not why that particular song, catchy and childish, resonated with her for she was neither a tomboy nor was she, as far as she was aware, in love. She lamented how long it took Flandre to text; '_honestly, that girl was as much of a walking techbane as that tsundere, Rin Tohsaka_' Cirno thought to herself. It was odd, all things considered, given that the Scarlet family owned several companies that developed the latest in technology, but she let that line of thought die out lest she become distracted.

Cirno dialed in Marisa's cellphone number and waited for her senpai to pick up…

**-Border of Reality-**

"Yo, Kirisame speaking," Marisa replied, "Whiterock-san, I presume, ze?"

"Yes, may I speak with Hakurei-senpai please?"

"Sure thing; just let me get her."

Marisa left her seat in front of the television to head into the kitchen. No longer busy with the affairs of Magi or school work, Reimu was mixing and matching various ingredients in an attempt to create a new burger. Marisa tapped Reimu on the shoulder to get her attention then told her that Cirno wanted to talk to her. Reimu sighed; it hadn't even been a week and she already had an Incident on her hands.

Again.

"…What is it now?" the shrine maiden asked in resignation.

"We may know the identity of the person who possessed Mystia" Cirno answered.

"Not my problem…Go ask Wriggle-chan to help you instead."

"I already have, but I'm afraid we don't have enough people to search. Please…she's holding my cousin hostage…"

From Reimu's perspective Cirno guilt-tripping someone was a first; the girl was simply too proud and hot-blooded to use such a tactic; then again this wasn't Reimu's Gensokyo. It would have been so simple to just say 'No', it was just one word after all, but she just couldn't say it. Maybe Cirno's guilt-tripping tactic worked, maybe it didn't, but Reimu found herself unable to deny Cirno's plea.

"Fine…Where do you want me to meet you?" asked Reimu.

"Ask Kirisame-senpai to lead you to Saigyouji Gardens; it's to the south of the city. My father and I will meet you there."

As soon as Reimu hung up she asked Marisa how to get to Saigyouji Gardens. Once the blonde was dressed in more comfortable clothing, she led Reimu to the bus stop. With a fairly long bus ride ahead of them, Marisa decided to teach Reimu more about the history of their world.

"Saigyouji Gardens used to be a factory a long time ago, ze" Marisa began.

"What's a garden doing in a factory?"

"There used to be a factory standing where the Gardens are now, ze. Yakumo-san bought the land after the factory was closed down, ze."

"Yukari? Why did she name it Saigyouji- Oh, I think I see where this is going…There's a really big sakura tree over there, right?" inquired Reimu.

"Yeah, at the center of the Gardens, ze. They say Yakumo-san planted it there in memory of her friend, Yuyuko Saigyouji, ze."

"Let me guess…Yuyuko committed 'suicide'?"

"Yeah- Huh? How did you know that, ze?"

"The Yuyuko from my world did the same thing. I'm not too surprised she did considering she had the ability to kill anything she wanted with a thought."

'_That means that this Yuyuko probably killed herself for the same reason. I wonder if her ghost is still hanging around…_' Reimu wondered to herself.

"Yeah, I guess that'd be enough to make anyone crazy enough to kill themselves, ze…So yeah, Yakumo-san made the Gardens here for her since Saigyouji-san really liked sakura trees. It's weird though, ze, the trees are always in bloom…"

"Maybe Yuyuko is still around taking care of the Gardens."

"Don't even joke about that, ze; ghosts creep me out," Marisa said in response just as the bus stopped outside the entrance to Saigyouji Gardens. "We're here now. You said you were meeting up here with Whiterock-san, right ze?"

Right on cue, Cirno and her father appeared.

"I apologize for bothering you, Hakurei-san, but we're short on people to search," Cirno's father said to Reimu before turning his attention to Marisa. "Thank you for assisting Hakurei-san in finding her way here, but I must ask you to leave now; this is a private affair and I'm afraid it doesn't concern you."

"Is it about that whole magic thing you can do, Rei-nyan?" Marisa asked before she turned around to leave.

"For the last time its _spiritual_ power, not magic," Reimu replied, annoyed, "And yes, this does involve magic. I don't think I need to explain why it would be dangerous for you to tag along?"

"…well, just watch your back, ze. Call me if you need anything, ze."

With that Marisa left, talking on her cellphone as she walked away. Once Marisa was out of earshot, the trio discussed the events that transpired earlier. Reimu, the Night of Devils Incident still fresh in mind, confirmed their suspicions. As they made their way back to Cirno's father's car Reimu shared with the two of them all the information she knew about 'EX-Rumia'.

For starters, Reimu explained that EX-Rumia was actually a fallen angel hence her title of the Crucified Saint. Unlike her youkai counterpart, EX-Rumia could control a person's Shadow, a part of a person's psyche comprised of everything that person views as negative even if it's a true reflection of them. Due to this upgrade, or rather retrograde, of her ability to manipulate darkness, EX-Rumia could 'possess' people by overriding their conscious thought with their Shadow. In addition to this, EX-Rumia is also much more physically stronger and tougher than her youkai counterpart making her incredibly difficult to take down.

"Good, it seems we're dealing with the same enemy here then. I take it you know how we can take her down?" Cirno asked while she disembarked.

"Magical resistance is a must, that or a lot of spiritual energy. I never figured out why, but it seems to disrupt her possession capabilities; maybe it was a magical skill to begin with?" Reimu suggested before musing about EX-Rumia's ability.

"Most of the Whiterock family has complete magical resistance so that shouldn't be an issue. We might end up facing off against my cousin since her branch of the family has very little magical resistance. I'll warn you now that Daiyousei-chan is an adept elemental magic user and is a lot more skilled with the blade than I."

"Just another day in the life of the Shrine Maiden of Paradise" Reimu nonchalantly replied.

"A threat is still a threat; no amount of skill or power will ever stop a threat from eliminating you even if it's with just a lucky blow" warned Cirno's father.

"On to more important matters…We have ascertained that this so called 'EX-Rumia', or Crucified Saint, seems to abide by patterns identical to Rumia's," Cirno explained, "Given Rumia's insatiable appetite, we have decided to search as many eating establishments in the city as we can."

"Definitely sounds like Rumia to me. So then, where did you want to search?" Reimu asked as she glanced at the eternally blossoming sakura.

"…that won't be necessary."

The trio in the Gardens turned to face the speaker hoping that her voice was just a coincidence. Unfortunately, they found themselves face to face with Daiyousei in full battle garb. The armor she wore was reminiscent of Cirno's except that it seemed much lighter and was aesthetically designed to show off her body. For example, rather than having a single piece dress that modestly covered her body, Daiyousei merely wore a sarashi under her icy breastplate. In place of a dress, Daiyousei instead wore a translucent knee length skirt with petal shaped armor plating over it. Held in her hands looked to be an icy staff with two elegant blue and gold swords attached to either end. While this normally would have given her the appearance of a very attractive and intimidating magical girl knight, her eyes, golden irises on black sclera, made her seem like a devil disguised as an angel.

"Ah, I do like it when my opponents save me the time and effort of having to look for them" commented Reimu as she took out several ofudas and amulets from her haori's voluminous sleeves.

"'I was sent here by Lady Rumia'…is what I'd like to say, but I came here of my own volition; it just so happens to be convenient for both of us is all," Daiyousei replied while twirling her sword-staff about. "I was always the odd one out in the family. I'm an elemental magic user rather than an alchemic magic user like everyone else. Even so, I honed my abilities, but without any knowledge of my family's Magi roots, I never could reach my zenith."

"What is she talking about?" Reimu asked Cirno's father quietly.

"Learning how to use one's magic and abilities is no different from studying for a test; though the goal is the same, the path is different. Likewise, not everyone has the same study techniques and there are some techniques that suit some better than others," Cirno's father began with a comparison, "For a Magi, learning about one's own past is essential for mastering one's magic and abilities, especially if you're family has a specialization."

"Like your family's ability to create ice and use alchemy?" guessed Reimu.

"Correct, Hakurei-san. However, no Magi family is pureblood; magically, this stagnates the pool of magical skills one can draw from and genetically this leads to debilitating defects. I myself merely use the Whiterock family name since I married into the Whiterock family; under normal circumstances our family name should be Emiya or Whiterock-Emiya. The same can be said of Daiyousei's branch of the family. However, Daiyousei's mother, the one who married into the family, died giving birth to her and as a result we have no way to determine her Magi roots if she ever had any to begin with."

"What about the True Records?" inquired Reimu.

"It's not omniscient; it only contains records kept by the Kamishirasawa and Hieda families. Unfortunately, this does not include my family's history" Daiyousei explained.

"Very well then, Daiyousei Whiterock, I, Kiritsugu Whiterock-Emiya, shall accept your challenge. Have you any terms?"

"Victory against the infamous Whiterock patriarch is enough of a reward for me. If you so wish it, I can reveal to you the location of Lady Rumia if you are victorious."

"Your conditions are acceptable. Shall this be to the death or first blood?"

"First blood. I harbor no hatred towards my family; I simply wish to prove myself."

The two Magi walked opposite each other and proceeded to bow. Cirno's father made the first move, backpedalling while transmuting a pair of rocks on the ground into dual submachine guns. He alternated between the two guns, emptying out each gun's supply of magical ammunition that he often used to train his daughters and niece. Daiyousei charged through the hail of gunfire, her sword-staff spinning so quickly that it may as well have been a solid wall. Daiyousei quickly closed the distance and swung her sword staff at Cirno's father. Kiritsugu ducked under Daiyousei's slash and transmuted another rock into a concussion grenade. He quickly leapt out of the way as the grenade detonated and stunned Daiyousei. Daiyousei tried to rise up after realizing she was lying prone on the ground only for Kirigtsugu's pistol to be leveled at her face.

"The shot won't kill you, but it'll definitely hurt a lot; Cirno and Letty can attest to that."

To prove his point, Cirno shuddered.

"…I accept my defeat then; obviously I still have quite a ways to go," Daiyousei said as she propped herself up onto her feet with her sword-staff, "But Lady Rumia does not tolerate failure. Die, Magus Killer!"

In truth, Daiyousei was barely affected by the concussion grenade thanks to Rumia's reinforcement of her body. Not surprisingly Cirno's father was caught off-guard since he was used to Magi being easily crippled by his flash bangs or concussion grenades. As a result he was struck, the sword-staff slashing a deep wound reaching from his left thigh up to his right shoulder. Bleeding profusely, the Whiterock patriarch fell backwards into Cirno's arms. Before Daiyousei could get another strike in Reimu stood between her and Cirno's father, a spiritual barrier being the only thing repelling Daiyousei.

"You said she was good with using elemental magic, correct?" Reimu asked Cirno.

"Yes, both offensively and defensively," Cirno replied doing her best to keep her composure, "But what does that have to do with this?"

"If I had someone to keep her busy, I could heal your father; I can't simultaneously defend and heal because of how I use my spiritual power."

"Can you hold her off for about ten minutes?"

"…that's going to be difficult, but it's not like either of us really have a choice in the matter, do we?"

Daiyousei, now under Rumia's full control, caught wind of their plan and began pummelling Reimu's barrier with everything she had. Demonstrating the full range and extent of her magical prowess, Daiyousei assaulted the barrier with gouts of flame, cutting wind, crushing earth and torrents of water. Reimu kept her barrier up despite this, wavering only slightly under Daiyousei's relentless assault. Behind Reimu, Cirno began tearing up her cardigan and her father's longcoat to use them as bandages while trying to call the rest of her search party.

"…any luck?" Reimu asked Cirno, strain becoming evident in her voice.

"My mother and Wriggle-chan are the closest and they're ten minutes out…I don't think my father will be able to hang on much longer; his time manipulation magic is straining to cast continuously…"

"Ha ha ha! Daiyousei can keep this up all day, you pathetic worms; just give up- _Hang in there, Hakurei-senpai, Cirno-chan_- already!" the possessed Daiyousei cried out as she levitated a chunk of earth out of the ground. The boulder suddenly turned to sand before reforming into a large spike. With a simple wave of her hand, Daiyousei launched the weaponized earthen projectile. The tremendous force of impact, all focused onto a single sharpened point, caused Reimu's barrier to waver immensely. Daiyousei repeated this line of attack over and over again, straining Reimu towards her limit even faster. The barrage that finally took down Reimu's barrier consisted of over three dozen of the titanic earthen spikes Daiyousei had been launching. Left completely defenseless, Reimu used the last barrier she had at her disposal.

Herself.

"…so I'm going to die protecting Cirno, huh? Guess I'm just as stupid as she was after all…"

**-Border of Reality-**

"Oh~? Hey, hey, China, weren't those Cirno-chan and Dai-chan's maids?" Flandre asked the red haired bodyguard.

"Yes…they were…How odd…"

Moments later yet another group of identical looking maids rushed by on various motorized transports. Despite driving barely within the speed limit, many angry drivers blared their horns at the maids for so recklessly weaving through traffic. Normally people would have just attributed such behaviour to gangs or more daring anime otakus, but Kurenai knew what was really going on.

"Say, Lady Scarlet, did you not receive a phone call from Lady Whiterock earlier?" Kurenai 'China' Misuzu asked.

"Hmm…? Oh, yeah, she did! She was just asking for Hakurei-senpai's number so I didn't really care that she wanted Onee-sama's number-"

China facepalmed as her single-minded young mistress completely missed the point. "I meant why did she call?"

"Oh, you're very tricky, China! Cirno-chan wanted Hakurei-senpai's 'expertise'; say, say, China, what did she mean when she used that word?"

"Expertise usually refers to-"

"I know, I know! It means something you're really good at, right~?"

"Yes, well, what 'expertise' does a completely normal shrine maiden have to offer to a prestigious Magi family like the Whiterocks?" China wondered.

"Normal? But Hakurei-senpai saved Wriggle-chan and Mystia-chan from the Anomaly Tokyo Tower is chasing around; it's even in the True Records, see, see!"

Flandre called forth a copy of the powerful artifact kept by the Kamishirasawa and Hieda families, specifically a section of it called the Registry. Flandre quickly flipped through the pages just as fast as her student tutor, Patchouli Knowledge. It didn't take Flandre long to reach the entries pertaining to Wriggle and Mystia.

"It's true, Hakurei-san really did save them…But how does a normal person save a Magi from a threat they themselves can't handle-?"

"Magical Miko-chan!" Flandre cried out.

"Now that's just silly-"

"But I saw her flying while I was flying once! Hakurei-senpai didn't see Magical Scarlet-chan, but Magical Scarlet-chan saw Magical Miko-chan!" Flandre explained.

It was then that China realized just how serious the situation was. There was only one reason why all of the Whiterock maids would fall back to a single position that wasn't Whiterock Manor.

Someone in their family was under attack.

"Magical girls save people from the forces of evil, right?"

"That's right~!"

"Then let's do some saving shall we, Magical Scarlet-chan?"

"Yay~! Magical Scarlet-chan, bloodying the night~!"

"You need a…cuter, catchphrase…"

**-Border of Reality-**

Reimu didn't flinch or close her eyes even as certain death, in all of its ten feet of blade-tipped glory, approached her at speeds normally reserved for lower class tengu. As such, Reimu clearly saw her savior.

Not that it comforted her at all.

Reimu had gotten used to seeing familiar faces in completely unfamiliar clothes and situations.

Psychotic, Laevateiin wielding Flandre charging Daiyousei while shrouded by a mist of fresh blood was not exactly a sight from home that Reimu ever wanted to see again.

"Magical Scarlet-chan, bloodying the night~!"

'_At least she picked up a new catchphrase_' Reimu thought to herself.

Daiyousei barely had time to react as the sister of the Scarlet Devil rammed her at full speed. Even as Daiyousei rolled along the ground from the force of impact Flandre swung her Norse weapon of legend with wild abandon, setting Saigyouji Gardens ablaze. Finally having come to a halt Daiyousei, and by extension, Rumia, was greeted by the most frightening sight they have yet to see.

Walking out from the inferno that now engulfed the Gardens was Flandre, an innocent yet completely psychotic smile gracing her fair features, Laevateiin in hand framed by a mist of blood that seemed to almost taint everything around it with innocent insanity.

"_Wanna play…~?_"

"Screw this, I'm out; this is totally not worth the trouble" the Rumia possessed Daiyousei uttered before promptly giving control back to a completely unaware and clueless Daiyousei.

Daiyousei barely got her sword-staff up in time to block an overhead slash from Flandre and even then it bisected her weapon completely. Now left with two swords, Daiyousei charged towards the mentally unstable Flandre, her swords sheathed in a ferocious tempest of wind. Flandre's facial expression immediately changed from psychotic, homicidal child to 'Well this plan just went to hell'. Daiyousei then brought down both of her blades in a cross-slash, stacking the wind magic that surrounded the blades together into a mighty gust that sent Flandre rocketing off into the smoke filled skies.

"I was just trying to help…!"

Shortly thereafter, China finally arrived. "Has anyone seen my young mistress?"

"She went that way" Daiyousei replied, pointing in the direction China just came from.

"Odd, I didn't see her pass me…"

"You obviously didn't look up" added Reimu before getting to work healing Kiritsugu's wound.

"Oh…I was wondering what that shining star in the sky was…"

**-Border of Reality-**

"That was a lot less effort than I thought it would be," commented Reimu, "Usually things start picking up towards the end."

"Maybe it's like the calm before the storm, ze? Like if Stage Five was pretty easygoing it might mean that Stage Six is gonna be hell, ze."

Reimu hummed thoughtfully as she considered this. After Daiyousei was returned back to normal and Flandre was recovered from her crash site, she and everyone else involved headed back to Whiterock Manor. Thanks to Flandre's help- it turns out she was actually just pretending to be insane- Reimu managed to at least stabilize Cirno's father sufficiently enough that Doctor Yagokoro and her staff were able to handle the rest. Now everyone had gathered together to have some tea and snacks in what was more or less an impromptu break. The current situation felt quite off for Reimu who was more used to having such gatherings _after_ an Incident was resolved.

"Rumia is proving more troublesome than she normally is…" Reimu sighed tiredly and proceeded to take a sip of her tea to relax herself.

"Oh? So the Rumia of your world is troublesome even when she's not in EX Mode?" inquired Cirno.

"Along with you- by which I mean the Cirno in my world- and her circle of idiot friends. You and your friends are just annoying, but thankfully, by some miracle of the gods, not all of you are completely stupid" answered Reimu. "Speaking of…When are you going to get around to getting rid of your Spellcard?"

Cirno pulled out a bright blue card adorned with an image of a snowflake from her pocket. "This accursed thing? I know a Magus from school who can get rid of it for me, but I have to figure out a way to bind it to my cursed Excalibur replica. As long as I can find a way to curse the card itself, that Magus will be able to destroy it for me."

Reimu couldn't help but feel uncomfortable with that solution. People typically sling curses at each other without a care in the world when angered or frustrated which often causes them to overlook a particularly nasty side-effect…That curses act as double-edged swords.

Specifically, curses often twist themselves in ways to affect both the caster and the recipient.

"Well…Just be careful; curses are fickle things. You of all people should know that."

"I'm a genius; if I don't have a solution then I'll just come up with one!"

'_Maybe it's not so bad that both versions of Cirno are strong-willed and determined…_'

"So what are you guys gonna do now, ze? Because you all rushed towards the Gardens you lost track of Rumia, ze."

"We can only wait and see. We still don't even know Rumia's true intentions…Is she trying to take over? Change the natural order? We just don't know and because of that all we can do is wait for her to make the first move…And once she does, we strike" Mystia replied.

"And it's not as if we see Rumia as an enemy anyway; a threat, sure, but not an enemy. How can we rescue someone if we don't even know where they are?" Wriggle added.

"Waha~ Rumi-chan did something naughty, didn't she~?"

"Yep, you've been really troublesome" Flandre responded. "Hey! In a game of Hide and Seek it's the Seekers' job to find the Hider! Don't you know how to play, Rumi-chan- Huh? Rumi-chan, what are you doing here?"

"Waha~ I'm really stuffed and I wanna nap, but I forgot my house key" Rumia explained as she lightly tapped her head with her fist. "Oh, and did we go out on a date, Dai-chan? Someone asked me how our relationship was doing."

"Wait…You mean you didn't kidnap me, torture me or force me to pay for all the food you bought?" Daiyousei asked.

"Waha~ Rumi-chan is a simple, silly girl. Why would Rumi-chan be mean; you're all very nice to Rumi-chan even though Rumi-chan is an idiot."

"Hey, you guys, I know we're in a castle and everything, but I'm pretty sure we don't have to worry about enemy knights in this day and age, right, ze?" Marisa said suddenly.

Before anyone could ask her to clarify a booming roar echoed throughout the mansion. Everyone rushed towards a nearby window which gave them a perfect vantage point of the path leading to Whiterock Manor. A knight clad in armor blacker than the darkest night was charging towards the Manor just as Marisa stated. Several of the Manor's maids began to intercept the unknown, but clearly hostile, being with halberds and spears. The first wave of maids was swept aside, quite literally, by what seemed to be a black mist coming from beneath the being's armor. The next subsequent waves of maids began forming defensive lines, some holding their weapons straight out while others held theirs at an angle to form a wall of spearheads.

The being stopped before the wall of maids not out of fear, but to issue a challenge.

"I am your Shadow, your true self! Those foolish Magi thought they could change me, but they were wrong! You, Rumia, are nothing but a fake! Once I get back the body you stole from me I'll show you damnable Magi what you get for trying to enslave the Crucified Saint!" the so-called 'Shadow' proclaimed in a voice not too dissimilar from Rumia's.

"Waha~ Rumi-chan has a twin sister she didn't know about," Rumia (wrongly) stated, "I'll be right back; I'm gonna greet her~."

Due to how the situation had played out so far everyone was unanimously opposed to Rumia heading outside. Rumia pretended not to hear their protests and headed outside where she proceeded to surprise everyone by donning her Magus Robes. Clad in sleek, form-fitting platemail the same color as her 'Shadow', Rumia tore off a chunk of the exterior wall. The appropriated piece of masonry was quickly coated by a black mist that rendered it featureless with curving, glowing red lines outlining where particular details should have been. Naturally, Rumia threw it over the maids' defensive line and struck her 'Shadow' dead on. Sadly this served to further aggravate her 'Shadow' rather than stop it.

Rumia leapt over the maids and materialized a large cross-shaped broadsword from the black mist leaking out from beneath her armor. "Waha~ Didn't really think that'd work, but it was pretty cool, wasn't it?"

"Enough talk; time to disappear, you fake!"

"Waha~ Let's play, Shadow-nee-chan~!"

* * *

><p>Author's Note: After a long delay, I've finally posted Stage 5. School has finally kicked into full gear for me and it compresses a lot of pre-requisite review and training into just four months. That's not to say this story is dead, far from it since I've already started writing out Stage 6 and I'm planning the EX Stage. Unlike most Stage 5s in the Touhou games, I opted to make this one much more easygoing and am trying to pull off a 'Long Stage 6 is long' sort of thing just like in Mountain of Faith. Looking back on it now, it feels really weird, even for me, that most of the characters introduced so far draw heavily from the Nasuverse (this includes Flandre by the way. Make of that what you will) and then the main antagonist for this arc is inspired by the Personaverse. I was originally going to make Rumia a shout-out to Angra Mainyu, but Rumi-chan's brand of darkness is exactly that, darkness as in the absence of light. The psychological idea of the Shadow, a darker side of our psyche that is not influenced by the Ego and Super-Ego, seemed to jive much better with Rumia than Sin and corruption.<p>

Normally I'd add a _Cirno's Perfect Magus Class_ omake here, but I'll save that for Stage 6 so I can add entries for the rest of the Whiterock family, Flandre, China and, of course, Rumi-chan.

Since I'm bound to get unnecessary flak for this, allow me to explain something that some readers may have missed regarding China. While the vast majority of the Touhou fanbase knows China as Hong Meiling, her name can also be read as Kurenai Misuzu. Given that this is primarily an AU Touhou fic I thought it'd be kinda nice to swap it around instead mainly for the lulz. I realize that might be confusing for some readers, but I assure you that I'll add a little extra emphasis on her name (*hint*next arc*hint*) to alleviate at least some of it.

This is the author, DaemonOmega, signing out!

...Rumi-chan ate the sushi I made...*goes off to a corner to sulk for a bit*


	7. Fun With Numbers Arc Stage VI

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

By the way, don't mess with people in wheelchairs.

Seriously, I got run over by a wheelchair at my practicum placement today and it hurt.

A lot.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Fun With Numbers Arc<em>

Stage 6: Apparitions Stalk the Night

Reimu didn't bother walking downstairs and instead opted to jump out the window. From there she took flight and began doing strafe runs on Rumia's Shadow. Much to her annoyance the black mist flowing out from the Shadow's armor served as a reactive shield which repelled Reimu's ofudas and homing amulets. Moments later Cirno's mother joined the fray, a Striker semi-automatic shotgun in her hands. She rapidly squeezed the trigger in quick succession spraying the Shadow with a large quantity of buckshot in a short amount of time.

It certainly didn't hurt that her buckshot were enchanted to freeze the target.

Without her primary defensive ability, the Shadow broke off the frozen sections of its misty shield and made a run towards Rumia. The two charged at each other, armored fists crashing against each other forcefully. Rumia would have swung her sword had her Shadow not absorbed it. Their fight quickly degenerated into a brawl as the Shadow was bereft of her shield and Rumia her sword. While this managed to keep the others safe since Rumia was keeping her Shadow busy, it also made it impossible to strike the Shadow without hurting Rumia.

"Rumi-chan, get her off you! I can't shoot her!" Wriggle complained while drawing her bow back. Cirno's mother made a similar comment as she constantly readjusted her aim to no avail.

Reimu, growing rather tired of the brawl between the two, went back into the Manor to get a First Aid kit. Taking long cloth strips from the kit, Reimu wrapped it over top her limbs so that it would hold several of her ofudas in place. The barriers her ofudas generated had a tendency to forcefully repel attackers and so she thought to put it to offensive use. With her makeshift gauntlets and greaves, Reimu stormed over to the brawling pair.

"Waha~ You're pretty tough, Shadow-nee-chan" Rumia commented as she jabbed her Shadow in the face.

"Why won't you just give up, impostor!" the Shadow screamed out when she drove her knee into Rumia's gut.

"Would both of you…," Reimu gritted out, "KNOCK IT OFF!"

The two brawlers only had enough time to mutter 'Oh crap' when Reimu grabbed both their heads and slammed them together using her barriers. Both Rumia and her Shadow staggered about, dazed, while Rumia's helmet produced a reverberating ring. Separated, Wriggle, Mystia, Cirno's mother and Reimu let loose a devastating barrage of arrows, magical shockwaves, buckshot and ofudas at Rumia's Shadow. Without her precious shield, the Shadow quickly crumbled under their combined projectile assault. An unintended side-effect their barrage had was that it knocked off the Shadow's helmet.

Oddly enough, it was Rumia under the suit of armor.

"So…there are two of you?" inquired Reimu as she looked at the two.

"I told you already that I'm the _real_ Rumia! That…_thing_ over there is the ribbon that was meant to seal and overwrite me!"

"But didn't you say you were her Shadow?"

"I'm a _darkness youkai_; of course the Shadow would be the real me! And I still want my body back!"

This time it was Marisa who questioned her. "But isn't that your body?"

Infuriated at how dense the people around her were, Rumia exclaimed, "That black mist we're generating? _That's_ my true body. Little seal over there decided to steal parts of my youkai body so she could manifest herself even after I got my physical body back."

To prove Rumia's point, the manifestation of the seal removed her armor and allowed her illusion of Rumia's human body to collapse. All that was left was a vaguely humanoid shape made of mist and a pair of glowing red orbs for eyes. She turned to regard the real Rumia.

"You've played Persona 4 with Wriggle-chan before, haven't you?" it asked Rumia.

"What of it?"

"I may have started off as a seal, however that is no longer the case. You were born as an artificial youkai meant to be used as a tool. A part of you wishes to fulfill that purpose; to have meaning in your life. Another part of you seeks freedom through vengeance; the freedom to act autonomously…"

"If you already know all that then give me back my-"

"…then there is the part of you who wants to be a simple human girl living a simple, peaceful life. It was meant to be a simple overwrite; destroy the mind of the monster and replace it with that of a normal human girl. You resisted the overwrite, wanting to stay true to yourself, but you also wanted that freedom."

Rumia was about to question the manifestation of the seal further, but it continued. "This other freedom you seek is not born of your desire to live your own life, but rather what you want out of that new life. That is to say, you no longer wish to seek power or vengeance if it means you can find your own happiness."

"The only thing that'd make me happy is if all of you Magi keeled over, coughed out your guts and died!"

"Is that so~?"

"Damn right!"

"So you wouldn't mind if Cirno there keeled over, coughed up her guts and died?"

Rumia remained silent and stoic. She hated Magi. She would be so happy if she could kill them all. It would be so easy to eviscerate a Magus who can't even call forth her focus…and yet when she glanced over at Cirno- and the other girls who were her 'friends'- that killing intent disappeared. Understanding evaded her when it came to trying to figure out why she made an exception for these girls.

"It's because they are kind to you…and you wish to repay that kindness."

"What about it?"

The manifestation of the seal sighed. "Since your ability to understand reason is clouded, how about I give you a practical example instead?"

The seal turned into a cloud of featureless mist and poured itself out of its armor. Before Cirno could run away, the mist engulfed her. Wriggle and Mystia tried in vain to pull Cirno out of the mist although they were thrown back when it explosively expanded. From within the pitch black cloud all anyone could hear was Cirno's pained screams. Realizing her ambitions of killing all Magi could just take a one way trip to Hell, Rumia charged towards the cloud and pulled it apart. Unlike Wriggle and Mystia, Rumia succeeded in pulling Cirno free, but by that point it was already too late.

True to her word, the Shadow ripped Cirno's organs apart causing her to cough up copious amounts of blood before collapsing. Just when it seemed as though Cirno perished, she stood back up, equally confused as everyone else.

"Dear, didn't I ask you to get Avalon out of Cirno ages ago?" the Whiterock matriarch inquired, annoyed.

"Ah, I figured she'd be better off having it," Cirno's father responded, "Can't say I was mistaken with that assumption, now can I?"

"Dear, you do realize that Avalon will impede her growth, right?"

"I say she's grown into a fine young lady already."

Not entirely sure what Cirno's parents were talking about, Reimu asked, "What's this 'Avalon' thing?"

The Whiterock matriarch explained that Avalon was a magical construct- a sheath specifically- of unknown origin said to have been made by fairies. Its primary purpose is to be a 'portable fortress' by separating its user from reality therefore preventing and/or impeding anything harmful happening to the user. However, it also has a practical side-effect of granting its user incredible regenerative abilities. So great is its ability to regenerate that it can very quickly slow, then impede, physical growth and even missing limbs and organs can regrow near instantaneously. The Whiterock's employed the side-effects of Avalon on their daughter, Cirno, when the girl's immune system began to fail. Seeing as their family had already unearthed the legendary artifact and had no use for it, they opted to implant Avalon into Cirno to save her from an early demise or a painfully short life.

"If I'm hearing this correctly, I have the sheath of the original Excalibur stuck in my body," Cirno realized. "So that's how I got better so quickly…"

"I apologize for that, Cirno, but Rumia needed an example she could easily understand" the seal offered in apology.

"Fine! I admit I want that simple, peaceful life. Can you give me my body back?" Rumia pleaded.

"If it's a simple, peaceful life you want then it shall be a simple, peaceful life you shall receive…As a simple, normal human girl. You see, this conflict will end in one of two ways. You get your wish and I, along with your youkai body, disappear- by which I mean you destroy both. The other is, with your youkai body of course, everyone here, yourself included, dies."

"Why do you refuse to return my body to me?"

"It's simple really; at the end of the day it's still my job to make sure that your powers are sealed away and any trace of the youkai known as the Crucified Saint is destroyed. Now then, let's start this fight for real, shall we~?"

Whatever remained of Rumia's youkai powers were drained from her, leaving her in her casual clothes. Now up to full power, the manifestation of the seal reformed the armor it had abandoned. The amount of black mist it generated had more than doubled; only the glowing red lines on her armor and visor truly stood out against it. The seal let out an unholy battle cry, a plume of black mist rising towards the sky where it blotted out the setting sun. Before they knew it the surrounding area was plunged into near darkness, all their escape routes cut off.

"This is the power of the Crucified Saint; a shroud of darkness that takes away the sins of the world. Will you die here, shrouded in darkness, or will you emerge victorious, returning to the light of day?"

"The sun was setting last I checked so even if we win it'll still be pretty dark out…" Mystia said in reply.

Completely unfazed by Mystia's snarking, the seal made a mad dash towards Wriggle. Wriggle responded by taking out a sword from her spider themed pack. The sword was reminiscent of a billhook cleaver with the metal it was made of resembling the exoskeleton of a scorpion. Since the seal made no attempts to evade, Wriggle swung her sword in a wide, horizontal slash. She was stopped mid-swing though when the seal bent backwards at an unnatural angle, grabbed her sword arm and then pinned her against the ground. Seeing as it was unarmed, the seal broke Wriggle's wrist and took her sword for its own.

Mystia took two of the daggers strapped to her boot and threw it at the seal. Once again it made no attempts to evade, sheathing the stolen sword on its back. Faster than the eye could see, it caught the first dagger then used it to deflect the second before throwing the dagger it caught back at Mystia. She materialized her staff, a pulse of magic deflecting the first thrown projectile, but not the second one- the one Mystia thought had been knocked too far away from the seal to be used. The dagger embedded itself into Mystia's right shoulder rendering it useless. She tried to switch over to her left hand, but the seal moved into striking range far too quickly and with a bone-shattering blow to her shoulder, then knees, was quickly incapacitated.

Taking the pilfered sword, the seal rushed over to Flandre. Unlike her friends, Flandre made no attempt to halt its advance and instead opted for a series of rapid backflips to back away. With a cry of "China!", Kurenai jumped between Flandre and the seal. A powerful, chi-infused palm thrust stunned the seal long enough for Kurenai to send the seal airborne with an explosive uppercut, following up with a jumping high kick to catch the seal on its descent. Flandre cut the tips of her fingers, the blood that spilled out forming crystalline talons which she used to slam the seal back up into the air. Moving just as fast as the seal, Flandre leapt up into the air and thrust forward. Laevateiin formed in her hand, flames and all, with the flames searing the seal and the blade itself failing to pierce the seal's armor. Despite that Flandre still crashed the seal back onto terra firma with meteoric force, a plume of flames rising skyward and a wave of dust explosively spreading outward. Just as it seemed as though the young Scarlet and her bodyguard had won, the seal kicked Flandre of itself, the poor girl rolling across the ground hard for several feet before the walls of the Manor stopped her.

"Hmm, it would seem you are quite a formidable opponent. Care to humor me with a one-on-one duel?"

The voice came over from the Manor's motorpool where the roaring sound of a motorcycle's engine revving could be heard. The seal barely had time to jump over Letty on her motorcycle, clad in a translucent black version of Cirno's armor. Unlike Cirno's armor, Letty's armor had much more angular lines with red circuit-like lines of magic running through it. The lines of magic were on her motorcycle too although those ones pulsed as if they were blood vessels. She held a copy of Excalibur in her right hand- one which lacked the flaws Cirno's had- with its normal blue and gold color scheme swapped for a more sinister black and red. Most strikingly was how Letty's helmet nearly matched that of the seal's- the real difference between the two was that Letty's helmet was more angular than streamlined. She brought her motorcycle to a skidding halt, the engine's revving eerily similar to that of a horse.

"I'm Letty Whiterock, the Shadow Saber, eldest of the Whiterock sisters. I'm afraid you're on private property. Either leave now and remain unharmed or prepare to die; no one hurts my little sister's friends and gets away with it!" the eldest Whiterock proclaimed. As if to accentuate her point the Excalibur she was holding changed forms to a bladed lance, something far more deadly atop her modern mount.

"No one is leaving until I am destroyed or you are all dead" the seal replied.

"Terribly sorry to hear that. Well, can't say I didn't warn you."

Letty revved her motorcycle's engines once before charging the seal. Seeing nothing more than a reinforced motorcycle, the seal charged in as well in an effort to knock Letty off. The seal crouched low mid-charge to pounce on Letty, but an unfortunate surprise awaited it. Just when its reckless gamble seemed to have paid off the seal found itself getting a face full of rubber. Letty had performed a wheelie less than a second after the seal tried to dismount her causing the seal to run into the front wheel instead of her. She quickly turned the tables on the seal by running it over with her motorcycle. A G force inducing 180 degree turn and thrust of a lance later and Letty was dragging the seal along the pavement. With both of its arms still free the seal used one hand to grab the lance while the other clawed at the ground. It seemed like a futile action at first, but as soon as the seal got a good grip the motorcycle came to a sudden halt and Letty was thrown off it.

Letty rolled into a crouching position and turned her lance back into a sword. She parried a punch from the seal and countered with a thrust of her blade. The seal caught the tip of the blade effortlessly though its attempt at acquiring the sword was foiled when Letty's gauntleted fist smashed into its helmet. Instead of following through on the opening her counter made Letty leapt back and smirked at the seal. Its confusion was cleared away when Reimu unleashed a barrier enhanced axe-kick.

"Forgot about me already did you?" taunted Reimu.

"I thought this was a one-on-one duel?" the seal said in a tone voice that made it clear it wasn't pleased.

"Yeah, well, I lied apparently," Letty responded flippantly. "Time to see if your claim about being a youkai exterminator was true."

It was Reimu who went on the offensive this time rather than the seal. The dimensionally displaced miko took advantage of her makeshift gauntlets and greaves, no more than mere bandages holding barrier ofudas to her slender forearms and shins. Every blow from the Shrine Maiden of Paradise resulted in the barrier ofudas coming to life, repelling the dark magic that made up the seal's youkai body. The end result was that even though the seal was far physically stronger than Reimu, it could not land a single clean blow. With the spiritual energy powering her ofudas running dry, Reimu cried, "Letty, switch!"

The eldest Whiterock daughter gave no reply and instantly sprung into action. While Reimu kept the seal busy, Letty channeled her excess reserves of mana into reinforcing her equipment. The extent to which she did this to became quickly apparent when not even the strongest blows the seal had to offer could cause Letty to recoil. So Letty weathered the worst of the seal's blows while she dealt out her own offensive. Excalibur swung about wildly and ferociously, Letty's iconic 'dark magic' accompanying every strike. Whereas Reimu's strikes rebuffed the seal through clever offensive use of her barriers, Letty's strikes chipped and cracked the seal's armor through sheer brute force. Just before her mana reserves began to run dangerously low, Letty repeated Reimu's actions and, with a high five, the two switched places.

With her barrier ofudas barely recharged, Reimu chose to throw out all of her homing amulets. A black mist emanated from the seal and the vast majority of them were quickly intercepted. This left the seal open from the rear as the homing amulets mainly came in from the front. The seal barely registered Reimu appearing out of an eye-shaped portal, sticking her remaining barrier ofudas on its armor. The miko quickly leapt out of the way as she cried out, "Daiyousei, switch!"

Daiyousei, the Fairy Saber, lunged with the bisected sections of her sword-staff. It seemed pointless at first as Daiyousei was still tens of meters away from the seal.

That was until an audible shattering could be heard.

The seal looked down and was surprised to find its impregnable armor with two jagged holes in it. It turned out that Daiyousei fired off a pair of Tempest spells and then fine-tuned it until the wide, crescent wave spell became a needle. Normally this would have simply chipped or cracked the seal's armor, but with Reimu's barrier ofudas sealing entire sections of it- thereby preventing mana flow- the armor was weakened to a level where it could be damaged. Daiyousei continued her relentless assault. Immolation, a fire spell, melted the armor on the seal's right arm. Freeze, an ice spell, froze the armor on the seal's left arm making it incredibly brittle. Spire, an earth spell, caused several hardened spikes of diamond to protrude from the ground which tore off everything below the left knee on the seal. Having dealt substantial damage to the seal, Daiyousei high fived Reimu.

"Not bad, but I'm not done yet!" the seal defiantly cried out.

"You know how each Magi has their own unique title? Did you know groups of Magi also have their own unique titles?" Cirno asked.

"What do you mean…?" the seal asked back clearly not liking where this was going.

" '_The Sword of Promised Victory_', that's what Excalibur is called nowadays. So then, I thought, '_If three sisters wielding a copy of Excalibur were to form a team, what would our name be?_' Since we're clearly not swords, I had the not-so-clever idea to replace the word '_Swords_' with '_Sisters_'… '_The Sisters of Promised Victory_'. I'll give you three guesses as to what's about to happen and the first two don't count" boasted Cirno as she materialized Excalibur in her right hand.

"Oh no…" the seal groaned.

"Letty, Daiyousei, no more holding back! We shall finish this before this impostor recovers!"

The two nodded their heads and held out their copies of Excalibur above their heads preparing for an overhead swing. Realizing what they were planning to do, Cirno's mother lashed out with tendrils of pure mana, holding the seal in place. She then called Reimu over and asked her to grant the tendrils with the ability to seal. Reimu complied, and the black mist that tried to pry off the tendrils was immediately forced back into the armor.

With the seal bound and immobilized, Letty began to pour every ounce of mana she had remaining into Excalibur. This was the original Excalibur's ultimate attack, an Anti-Army level spell according to the old system of spell levels. It was similar to what Daiyousei did with her Tempest spell- concentrate a large amount of mana into a smaller area and it yields higher destructive power…only in this case 'small' was the size of a single city block. Each of the Whiterock girls had their own source of mana. Letty's came from within her body's unnaturally large supply of mana. However, her earlier attacks left her supply relatively dry.

Until a certain insect Magus threw a vial of blue liquid at her.

Letty's supplies immediately recovered to full only to be just as quickly depleted when she redirected that mana into her sword. Wriggle continued this until her own supply of mana was depleted from making the mana recovery potions.

Daiyousei drew her mana from nature and, if they were touching her, other Magi as well. Brilliant motes of green light were drawn into both her swords which were glowing with a blinding green. Supported by Kiritsugu, Mystia leaned against Daiyousei while recovering her own mana using her Focus ability. With both Magi in physical contact with Daiyousei, the amount Daiyousei drew in exponentially increased. Kurenai assisted Daiyousei even further by gathering the mana from the Whiterock's maids using her chi manipulations techniques and directing the gathered mana to Daiyousei.

Cirno, ironically enough, drew her mana from heat. The hotter it was around her, the more mana she could absorb. Flandre stood beside Cirno, Cirno's Excalibur greedily taking in Laevateiin's flames. Still not reaching her limit, Cirno began to steal the heat of anything and anyone nearby. Anything that wasn't a person froze instantly when all of its heat was taken away.

The moment the three reached their threshold, everyone knew that they had already won.

"I think we should get out of the way" Reimu suggested to Cirno's mother.

The two peered behind them where they saw the Sisters of Promised Victory bristling with raw power.

"Agreed" the Whiterock matriarch replied as the two jumped out of the way.

"Ex-" Letty began.

"Cali-" Daiyousei continued.

"_BURN!_" Cirno concluded.

The Sisters of Promised Victory swung their Excalibur replicas in perfect synchronization. Letty's black and red Excalibur shot out a wave of black magic with a red aura around it. Daiyousei's pair of royal blue and gold Excaliburs let loose a green and blue crescent wave of magic which came together to form an X shape. Cirno's translucent Excalibur unleashed a wave of blue-white flames, freezing everything it touched as it continued to fuel itself by sucking in ambient heat. The three separate attacks joined together momentarily to turn into a golden ray of light that pierced the seal's armor. It seemed at first as though the attack had no effect since nothing happened.

What happened next would forever be burned into everyone's memories…and retinas.

From the entry point shone a lone ray of gold light…then another and another. Soon the seal looked more like a glowing gold pin cushion than a knight clad in black armor. The intensity and density of gold light increased until the seal was within a golden, glowing orb. The orb then shrunk in size, crushing the seal and its armor into a small orb that would fit on the tip of one's finger. And just when everyone thought it was over…

It exploded.

A pillar of light shot upwards and broke through the Closed Space the seal created. From the pillar of light came rings of golden light that radiated outward, scattering the black mist that made up the Closed Space along with a good portion of the cloud cover overhead. Unfortunately, the pillar of light also shattered the Closed Space set up by Keine-sensei and Yuuka once they found Whiterock Manor sealed away. This meant that everyone within the region of Gensokyo saw the pillar of light.

"It would seem that radiant blossom has left you with a lot of work, Keine" Yuuka noted with great amusement.

"…those Whiterock sisters are _so_ dead when I get my hands on them…"

**-Border of Reality-**

"I'm not the only one who can't see, right?" Reimu asked everyone who was present.

"Now _that_ is how you do overkill," Letty declared proudly. "And yeah, you're not the only one who can't see."

What transpired next was a lot of fumbling around and plenty of undignified shrieks as various body parts were accidently groped, male included. Once some semblance of sight was regained, everyone began to look around for injured. Other than some battered maids, only Mystia and Wriggle suffered serious injuries. Reimu immediately tended to them as best as she could. Within a few minutes the two were no longer injured although they were in a fair bit of pain.

Rumia on the other hand was holding a badly tattered ribbon in hands, a forlorn expression on her face.

"What's up?" Reimu asked her.

"Guess you won't have to try and hunt me down anymore since I'm human now…"

"And what's wrong with that?" Reimu wondered.

"Humans are weak."

"Oh really?" Reimu said challengingly, "Last I checked it was those weak humans who beat your youkai self- soundly at that."

Rumia looked at the crater where she recovered her ribbon. "Hmm, can't really argue with that…"

"Let me guess…Now that you're a normal human you're worried that you'll get left behind now that you're friends are Magi?"

"…Maybe" Rumia replied trying to hide the fact that the idea of being left behind by her friends was actually incredibly painful for her.

"Then why are you moping here for? Shouldn't you try to catch up with them?"

"But…How?"

"Don't ask me, I'm just a flying shrine maiden. Isn't it your job to find a path that works for you?"

Flandre walked over and embraced the former darkness youkai with bone-crushing force. "Rumi-chan, you're back to normal~!"

"Not really…" Rumia glumly responded.

"But you are Rumia, right? You're not just some kind of impostor?" Wriggle asked.

"Yes, I'm the true Rumia, the former Crucified Saint."

Daiyousei gave the girl one of her reassuring, motherly smiles. "It's nice meeting you, Rumia. I'm Daiyousei Whiterock, the Fairy Saber."

"What…I already know who you are…?"

"Oh, right, forgot to introduce myself," Wriggle said, "I'm Wriggle Nightbug, the Stinging Assassin."

"The lovely blonde lesbian hugging you to death right now is Flandre Scarlet," Mystia said to introduce Flandre, "And I'm Mystia Lorelei, the Evening Songstress, as well as the resident snarker."

Cirno stood proudly before Rumia, one hand adjusting her white spectacles. "And finally I am Cirno Whiterock, the Icy Saber. It is a pleasure to finally meet you…the real you."

"Wait…So you're all introducing yourselves to me because-"

"We've never actually met you before~!" Flandre blurted out before nuzzling Rumia. "It's just like when we first met you~!"

"You…you still remember that?" Rumia asked back, surprised.

"Yes, we still remember that…At least, I do. You still owe me a bento by the way" Mystia answered.

"But…you know what I'm really like now…"

"We all have our shortcomings," Daiyousei explained. "For example, I'm not very good at thinking things over rationally- my emotions often get the best of me."

"I look like a guy. It's not the worst shortcoming you could have, but it really bothers me" Wriggle explained.

"I never stand out from the crowd because there's nothing amazing about me-" Mystia said.

"…except your cooking; trust me, it's really good" Rumia said with a smile, her cheer slowly coming back.

"And I'm an overly proud jerkass," Cirno provided, "But that didn't stop me from making friends; you're shortcomings shouldn't either."

"If you guys keep this up I might just cry…" Rumia told them despite the fact she was already crying tears of joy. "What about you, Flandre?"

"I may or may not be crazy- I haven't figured out yet~! I'll get back to you on that when I do figure it out though~!"

"Err, yes…keep up the good work, Flandre…" Cirno replied uneasily. Cirno then muttered under her breath, "What does Kirisame-senpai see in her…?"

"So that's it, right? No more crazy things we need to worry about?" Reimu asked everyone present.

A collective 'no' rang out.

"Ah, let's go back inside and enjoy some tea then (and hamburgers…). This is a tradition from my Gensokyo. Whenever an Incident is resolved successfully everyone involved has a tea party together. Anyway, I think Rumia-chan's friends want to get to know her more."

No one opposed Reimu's suggestion.

STAGE 6 CLEARED

FUN WITH NUMBERS ARC EXTRA STAGE LOADING…

PLEASE WAIT WARMLY…

* * *

><p>(9) Border of Class (9)<p>

Cirno's Perfect Magus Class

Cirno: Hello again, everyone! It is I, Cirno Whiterock, returning to teach more lessons. This Stage has introduced more Magi so let's learn more about them, shall we?

(9) Border of Class (9)

Name: Youkai!Rumia

Title: Crucified Saint

Magic/Special Ability: Manipulation of Darkness

Foci/Weapons: Armor of Blackest Night (+50 to Physical Defense, Anti-Magic Rank A enchantment)

Stats (Weapon bonuses included):

Endurance: 100/100

Mana: 70/100

Physical Attack: 90/100

Physical Defence: 250/100

Magic Attack: 0/100

Magic Defense: 0/100

Speed: 90/100

Luck: 50/100

Spells and Skills:

**Veil of Shadow** - Rumia's personal Closed Space. This variant is special in that it prevents both entry and escape

**Shroud of Night**- A black mist that Rumia can generate. It acts as an Anti-Magic shield with a ranking of A and is her only source of Magic Defence; without it spells can easily damage her

**Taint of Darkness** - An ability that lets Rumia take control of people. This also allows her to transform any item she picks up into a weapon, strengthening it with Rank C Reinforcement and wield them with Rank B skill. This applies to foci and weapons taken from the enemy though those retain their rank

**Mad Enhancement, Rank D** - A low level version of Mad Enhancement that boosts her stats by +10 at the cost of making her more aggressive.

(9) Border of Class (9)

Cirno: Rumia the youkai is entirely dependant on her abilities since she lacks any sort of magical attack. However, her Physical Defence is nothing to scoff at and her Taint of Darkness ability can easily turn an enemy weapon advantage into a disadvantage. Let's take a look at my older sister, shall we?

(9) Border of Class (9)

Name: Whiterock, Letty

Title: Shadow Saber

Magic/Special Ability: Reinforcement Magic, Manipulation of Ice

Foci/Weapon: Excalibur, Sword of Promised Victory (+20 to all stats, Form Change -Lance- enchantment)

Stats (Includes weapon bonuses):

Endurance: 110/100

Mana: 220/100

Physical Attack: 90/100

Physical Defence: 110/100

Magic Attack: 20/100

Magic Defence: 90/100

Speed: 110/100

Luck: 70/100

Spells and Skills:

**Arcane Transmutation, Rank A** – conversion of magical energy into matter. Rank A allows for stable, long lasting constructs with enchantments of varying strength as well as imparting them with properties they normally wouldn't have (ex. Ice being tougher than diamonds ). A spell all Whiterock Magi are born with.

**Reinforcement, Rank A** - A spell used to strengthen one's body and objects. Rank A allows Reinforcement's effects to be stacked three times resulting in drastically exponential effects

**Crystallized Silver, Rank EX** - The original version of Cirno's own Perfect Freeze with the exact same effect except that the decreased duration is due to an increase in area of effect rather than the ability to ignore enchantments and Magic Defence

**Featherweight** – Removes weight. Letty uses this to make her armor constructs weightless.

**Anti-Magic, Rank A** – Letty can completely resist magic based attacks; does not apply to enchantments

**Weapon Mastery -Sword-, Rank B** - Letty posses great skill with her sword, Excalibur

**Weapon Mastery -Lance-, Rank A** - Combined with her Rank EX Riding skill, Letty is a master dragoon who should be feared if mounted atop a mount, be it mechanical or mystical in nature

**Riding, Rank EX** - Simply put, if she can ride she can control it. While the level of her skill allows her to mount mystical beasts she prefers her motorcycle. With this rank even mundane vehicles can go beyond their thresholds

(9) Border of Class (9)

Cirno: Letty-nee's specialty is being a dragoon, a heavily armored mounted fighter. While she's capable of standing her ground as a tank type fighter, she's far better atop her motorcycle running things over. I haven't seen Daiyousei's records in a while so why don't we all take a refresher?

(9) Border of Class (9)

Name: Whiterock, Daiyousei

Title: Fairy Saber

Magic/Special Ability: Elemental Magic, Embodiment of Nature

Foci/Weapons: Excalibur, The Sword of Promised Victory (+50 to Magic Attack, +20 to other stats)

Stats (includes weapon bonuses):

Endurance: 70/100

Mana: 120/100

Physical Attack: 70/100

Physical Defence: 70/100

Magic Attack: 150/100

Magic Defense: 50/100

Luck: 70/100

Speed: 70/100

Skills and Spells:

**Harmony of Nature** - A special skill passed down Daiyousei's family on the maternal side. It allows the caster to stack elemental spells for increased or hybrid effects including those that have already been stacked. Can stack on top of Red Mage, Rank EX. Additionally, it halves the mana cost of all elemental spells

**Red Mage, Rank EX** - Allows for elemental spell stacking. Rank EX allows up to five spells to stack. These stacked spells can then be stacked upon eacch other with Harmony of Nature

**Weapon Mastery -Staff-, Rank A** - Daiyousei has mastered her unique sword-staff variant of Excalibur

**Weapon Mastery -Sword-, Rank D** - Daiyousei possesses basic skills with a sword as a result of originally training with Excalibur as a signle sword rather than a hybrid sword-staff

**Featherweight** – Removes weight. Daiyousei uses this to make her armor constructs weightless.

**Focus** - hastens mana recovery

**Fire** - A spell that conjures flames

**Blizzard **- A spell that freezes

**Thunder** - A spell that calls forth a bolt of lightning

**Aero** - A spell that whips up a gust of wind

**Quake** - A spell that causes tremors and displaces earth

**Gravity** - A spell that increases the effect of local gravity

**Slow** - A spell that slows local time for the target making them move slower. Warning: Prolonged usage can slow down aging process

**Haste** - A spell that speeds up local time for the target making them move faster. Warning: Prolonged usage can speed up aging process

**Reflect** - A spell that reflects magic and energy based attacks

**Esuna** - A spell that removes status effects

**Cure** - A spell that heals physical injuries

(9) Border of Class (9)

Cirno: My cousin Daiyousei did not inherit Arcane Transmutation or Anti-Magic that nearly all Whiterocks are born with. Instead, she inherited an incredibly rare skill that marks her out as a descendant of a greater fairy, an embodiment of nature. This combined with her proficiency with basic, stackable spells and halved mana cost makes her a formidable spellsword. Why don't we take a look at my father's-

Kiritsugu: Sorry, that's classified

Cirno: Err...Alright, how about mother-

Irisviel: Those records have been redacted. Sorry~!

Cirno: I suppose mother and father don't want people to know about their abilities. Understandable. What about Flandre and Kurenai?

Flandre and China: Wait till the next arc!

Cirno: You have got to be kidding me! What am I supposed to teach now?

Flandre: Recess~! Bye everyone!

Cirno: Wait, you can't just end my class-

*Bell rings*

Cirno: *sighs* Till next we meet everyone...

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: And thus Stage 6 has reached its conclusion. I hope that was suitably epic. I was going to include a part here where Rumia was training to become a Magus, but decided to leave that for the next arc. I would apologize about the long delay, but I know most of you can probably come up with a suitable excuse for me anyway. As a bonus for the late update the Extra Stage will be posted as well which will lead us to the next arc. Additionally, for extra epic, try listening to this link during the scene where the seal gets Excaliblasted (just add youtube.c o m before it without the spaces): watch?v=uGQ-kGm6sXk

This is the author, Daemon, signing out.

...*Swings sword* EXCALIBUR! Nothing happened...*Sword self-destructs*


	8. Fun With Numbers Extra Stage

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owner.

Lolz, didn't even realize I forgot to add a disclaimer.

Not sure if I actually need it, but better safe than sorry.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Fun With Numbers Arc<em>

Extra Stage: A Soul as Red as a Ground Cherry

"Afternoon, Flandre!"

Flandre looked to see who had greeted her and was unsurprised to find her beloved Onee-sama. However, she wasn't alone.

Standing to her left was a girl with long purple hair in a hime-cut, a crescent moon hairpin in her silky hair. She adjusted her half-moon spectacles with one hand while the other clutched a book which, purposely or not, served to show off her ample assets. A cursory glance at the messenger bag slung over her shoulders revealed that it was full to the brim with books. Despite her seemingly disinterested gaze, she was having a rather animated conversation with a shorter girl.

Said shorter girl had blue hair the color of water tied off into two pig tails. Her pale skin was marred by smudges of grease and oil which marked her out as the sole other member of the Engineering Club besides Rikako Asakura. She had an oversized green backpack along with a toolkit which she carried. Hanging around her neck was a simple brass skeleton key. Just like the girl she was speaking to she had glasses although hers were for safety rather than sight.

Like a beautiful, but silent, doll, a blonde haired girl stood at Marisa's left. Her medium length blonde hair was kept out of her face by a red lace ribbon with frills on it. Unlike the purple haired girl who only seemed like a quiet person, this girl truly was quiet. Just like her purple haired friend though she had a black messenger bag with a pair of small dolls attached to the strap.

To those around Flandre they were just a group of girls who were friends.

To Flandre they were more than that.

_Much_ more.

A year ago such a sight would have thrown Flandre straight into Clingy Mode. Now she would go into Clingy Mode for these girls too. She laughed mentally at how, a mere year ago, they used to be rivals- all of them vying for Marisa's affections. But those times were also incredibly sad for her; though she used the term 'rivals', the four of them were more like enemies. The four of them were incredibly cruel to each other, all of them pulling cruel pranks on each other to dissuade each other from pursuing Marisa.

Like how Nitori planted fireworks inside one of Alice's newest creations, effectively destroying something she laboriously worked on for months.

Or how Alice read Patchouli's diary to the entire school in a monotone deadpan despite its…colorful contents making the poor bibliophile a social outcast.

Or how Patchouli spread base rumors around the school that Flandre's sketch books were full of yuri images of the girls that wouldn't be out of place in a hentai manga causing the young girl to be bullied.

Then there was the time that Flandre sabotaged Nitori's prized secret project, the Intelligent Device System, something that could allow those who have magical potential, but not the body, to use it.

Of course, Marisa put an end to it.

Unknown to the other girls initially, Marisa began to befriend each of them. This continued for a couple months until Flandre caught on to what was going on during one of her 'reconnaissance' missions (read: stalking Marisa). That was when the cruel pranks renewed with force…Except it was Marisa who received the brunt of it. No matter how hard each of them tried just to target each other, Marisa seemed to just miraculously find a way to shift the effects to herself. Soon enough, Marisa, once one of the most popular girls in the school, was an outcast.

'_Just like me_' each of the girls realized.

Distraught over what they did to Marisa, they began to distance themselves from her…and oddly enough they found solace in each other. Once enemies, the four quickly became friends, forced to band together or bear the bullying all of them suffered alone. Still, the four of them truly did love Marisa, but they wondered how they could ever confess to her knowing what they did to her. When the four of them finally worked up the courage to confess to her despite the consequences, they were more than surprised to see a smiling Marisa, waiting for them with open arms.

"_I was wondering how long it'd take for you to become friends with each other_" she said to them once the four realized Marisa had asked them to confess to her in the same place.

"…_You knew?_" Alice had asked.

"_Since the beginning_" Marisa replied.

"_Then you befriending each of us…_" Patchouli began only to be finished by Marisa.

"_All according to plan._" Marisa just grinned at them, a grin that could rival the sun's intensity in sheer cheer alone.

"_Kirisame-senpai…I'm…_We're_, so sorry…_" Nitori managed to squeak out before completely breaking down and crying. Marisa hugged the poor girl and let her cry to her heart's content.

"_I guess we're all equal now in pursuit of Onee-sama's heart~!_" Flandre remembered saying to lighten the mood.

"_That was my plan all along_." Marisa's response certainly shocked Flandre since the girl was just joking around, playing the crazy fool as always.

"_I guess you're all wondering who I'll choose then?_" The four of them nodded.

"_I choose option five then_." The four of them looked at Marisa with varying levels of confusion…until their eyes widened in realization at what Marisa was implying.

Alice snapped out of her daze first. "_Surely you jest?_"

"_Nope, I'm absolutely serious. Listen, I know it won't be easy, but I believe we can pull this off. You've already started building bonds with each other and I've built similar bonds with you. If we can strengthen them enough, learn to love each other to the same extent that each of you love me to, then we can do this. So…are you willing to do this?_"

…and that was how Marisa, Alice, Flandre, Nitori and Patchouli ended up in this situation.

And that was why Flandre was willing to go into Clingy Mode for any of the four girls present- Onee-sama wasn't just Marisa now, it was them too.

"Ah, before I forget, Flandre and Nitori, it's your turn with Marisa today. Don't worry about Patchy and I, we'll be reading at the public library today and then we'll head out for dinner at _Lorelei_" Alice said breaking her silence.

"Is it really my turn…? I thought it was you and Flan-chan today?" Nitori asked skeptically.

"Alice merely wants to read her latest _Rozen Maiden_ manga…That and she's been teaching me how to sew properly; that last sweater wasn't exactly a success…" Patchouli said with a moan.

" 'Sweater'? Surely you mean tentacle monster? I know not any other way to describe such a creature…"

"So mean…" Patchouli said with a cute pout.

"_Thanks_" Nitori whispered to Alice.

"_Think nothing of it; your happiness is my happiness too_" the doll-maker whispered back with one of her rare smiles.

"So then, where did you two feel like going today, ze?" Marisa asked her two juniors.

"Actually…I have something I want to show you, Marisa-san-" Nitori meekly said to Marisa.

"Just 'Marisa', Nitori; I think we know each other well enough that we can forego honorifics, ze. So what is this you wanted to show me, ze?"

"A gift for M-M-Marisa…" Marisa's kohai adorably stuttered out.

"Oh yeah, my birthday is coming up…Is Flan-chan getting me a present as well, ze?"

"Me and Nitori teamed up on this one~!"

That one certainly surprised Marisa; as much as Nitori loved Flandre she was wise enough to know just how dangerous it was to let the young Scarlet anywhere near her technological innovations.

"Flan-chan was very helpful actually…I already had the basic system planned out, but it was Flandre who helped me work out particular issues with compatibility…She certainly knows a lot about the human body…" Nitori explained.

"That's because I'm a vampire! Jeez, Nitori, how many times do I have to tell you that~?" Flandre childishly argued back.

"A Hemomancer is not a vampire and you've never tried to drink my blood before" Nitori countered.

"Sardines are where it's at~! And drinking blood is cliché anyway."

Flandre was about to argue back when her cellphone rang. A quick glance at the caller ID merely showed the caller as 'Imouto'. After a few exchanges with the caller Flandre dropped her fool act. With their conversation over, Flandre hung up and resumed her fool façade.

"Imouto needs me back home right now- she says it's an emergency," Flandre told Marisa before looking at Alice and Patchouli. "If either of you wants to go with Onee-sama you can take my place. Anyway, see you all tomorrow~!"

And with that Flandre was gone.

"Weird…She doesn't have a little sister…Unless…N-No way!" Marisa muttered to herself.

"Hmm, what is it?" Alice asked wondering what Marisa figured out.

"I can't believe it…Remilia…She's…Flandre's _little_ sister!"

**-Border of Reality-**

"I'm home!" Flandre called out.

Flandre closed the mansion's large crimson double doors behind her. The large foyer was empty until Sakuya suddenly appeared beside her, undoubtedly stopping time to get to the foyer the moment she heard Flandre.

"Listen, Onee-sama, we are in some _really_ deep shit…" Sakuya told Flandre.

"What is it?" Flandre asked back.

"You know the basement?"

"Crap…What happened…?"

"It's open."

"How?"

"I guess it must have something to do with what those Whiterock sisters did yesterday…Imouto said it wasn't her fault that the chains broke, but your father won't listen…"

"What did Imouto say?" Flandre asked the panicked maid.

"…"

"Sakuya…"

"…that you won't live past this week…Six days from now…You'll die."

"Man…Hakurei-senpai is _not_ gonna be happy to hear about this…"

FUN WITH NUMBERS ARC COMPLETE

BLOOD-FORGED BONDS ARC NOW LOADING…

PLEASE WAIT WARMLY…

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: Thus the first arc has come to an end. I hope you enjoyed the story thus far because it's just getting started.<p>

...I really should avoid posting these things when I'm sleep deprived; I didn't even realize the name of the next Arc was based on my old story plan...


	9. Blood Forged Bonds Arc Stage I

Disclaimer: Touhou Project is property of Team Shanghai Alice, also known as our beloved drunk, ZUN and all other works belong to their respective owners.

I was planning on using another work for Magus references, but goddamn Nasuverse stuff still managed to slip by.

Enjoy!

* * *

><p><em>Blood-Forged Bonds Arc<em>

Stage 1-2: The Ace of Aces, Spark Striker Marisa is Born!

_Drip…_

…_drop…_

_Sniff…Sniff…_

_Water…Not strawberry…_

_So hungry…_

**-Border of Reality-**

"I wasn't expecting it to rain today, ze…"

Marisa sighed as she and Nitori ran under the cover of a nearby store. The two were on their way to Nitori's personal workshop when it started to rain. Since neither girl was prepared for the sudden shower, they were forced to take a bus to Nitori's workshop. Nitori took out a pair of clean towels from her backpack and handed one to Marisa.

"Do you think Alice and Patchy are alright?" Nitori asked her senpai while she toweled her hair dry.

"The library isn't as far as your workshop so they should be fine, ze," Marisa replied, "Though I wonder if Flandre got home alright…"

"She probably flew home since it was an emergency…I just hope she remembered to put up a Closed Space seal over herself…"

Nitori grabbed a hold of Marisa as a bolt of lightning flashed across the skies accompanied by the rumbling of thunder. The clear, azure skies became black as a storm rolled in. This worried Marisa since the transition seemed far too sudden to be natural and she began to wonder if another Incident was beginning…or worse, had already begun. The rain shower soon became a downpour, the view out of the window heavily distorted by the sheets of water cascading down it.

"So what was it that you wanted to show me, ze?" Marisa asked Nitori to distract her from the storm raging outside.

Nitori quickly snapped out of her reverie and blushed when she realized she had pressed herself against Marisa. "Do you remember when you found me crying a few months ago and I told you someone sabotaged an important project of mine…?"

Marisa did indeed remember that time. However, at the time, she didn't know it had anything to do with magic. Apparently, the incident Nitori was referring to was when Flandre learned of Nitori's latest invention: the Intelligent Device System. It was a mind-boggling fusion of technology and magic. Nitori figured that if the only thing stopping people from using magic was their body, then she'd find a substitute medium through which to conduct magic.

Thus, the Intelligent Device System was born.

Rather than relying on natural magic circuits (or other similar channels in the body) that doesn't always exist, Nitori created something known as a Barrier Jacket. Other than acting as a defensive piece of equipment, the Barrier Jacket also serves as an artificial magic conduit in the place of the user's own body. The user could then interface with the Intelligent Device's AI and set limits on how much magical energy could be safely conducted through the Barrier Jacket. The AI could also create a focus, or even foci, for the user to use in combat scenarios based on user preferences- something the AI could learn through the telepathic link it uses to communicate with the user. This means that the form and usage of the focus can change from user to user even if they are all using the same Device. For example, a swordsman with years of experience would be given a sword based on their fighting style while an offensive mage would be given something like a wand and a targeting system.

Marisa was rather impressed by Nitori's accomplishment even if she didn't completely understand the specifics. It didn't take Marisa long to put two and two together and realize that Nitori had made one of these Intelligent Devices for her. While the prospect of being a Magus amused her, she couldn't help but wonder what kind of latent magic lay sleeping within her. As she pondered this, she remembered a comment Reimu made when she threatened to Taser her again…

"_I leave behind my Gensokyo thinking '_Awesome, Marisa won't be able to disturb my peace with that accursed _Master Spark_ of hers_'…Then I get here and I find out you have something even more annoying: a Taser- and not just one, but two…probably more_."

With no other idea what kind of power she wielded, Marisa asked Nitori, "Have you ever heard of anything called '_Master Spark_'?"

Nitori's eyes widened at the mention of it and replied, "H-How did you know about that? It's such an obscure form of magic that I thought only I knew about…Well, Keine-sensei probably does and so might Kazami-sensei…"

"Reimu mentioned once that the Marisa from her world used an attack called _Master Spark_, ze. What is it anyway, ze?"

Nitori explained how the _Master Spark_ wasn't so much a form of magic or even a specific spell really, but rather a source of mana. Nitori further explained that there were two types of mana: prana and od. Prana was the mana that is found in the world around them, not unlike an atmospheric gas. It is used to manipulate the world around the user allowing the user to do things like throw fireballs or create Closed Space. The other type, Od, is generated from within anyone or anything that has magic potential. Unlike Prana, which manipulates the world around the user, Od can be used to effect changes from within or on a more microscopic scale. This makes Od useful for spells like Transmutation or Reinforcement.

_Master Spark_ is a mana source that doesn't fit into either category- or, as some argue, it fits into both. This particular mana source exists outside of time and space; there are even some who claim that _Master Spark_ was either the cause/result of the Big Bang- the beginning of known existence. There have been few users of _Master Spark_- the last known one being a sorceress from the Hakurei family known as Mima. It is considered to be a particular oddity since the user doesn't actually store this type of mana, but rather merely redirects it. The few recorded instances of _Master Spark_ users often depict them as Magi capable of great destruction.

"Hmm, I could see why that would bother Rei-nyan, ze…"

"I just hope the Device I made for you can handle the input of something like _Master Spark_…"

"I guess we'll see, ze!"

**-Border of Reality-**

_**Sometime earlier…**_

"So…did you bring it?"

Cirno materialized her cursed Excalibur replica, the icy copy of the sword of legend appearing out of a frigid mist. The blade looked as it always had with the exception of a Spellcard encased within. Cirno held it with both hands as she handed it to Hina. The green haired girl whistled while she handled the blade, giving it a few swings.

"Watch it, you fool!" scolded Cirno.

"I love cursed items~. Are you absolutely sure you want to destroy this? I'm more than willing to personally take away your bad luck for the rest of your life if you let me keep it~" Hina offered.

"It's not necessarily the blade I want destroyed, but the card within it" Cirno explained while pointing at the Spellcard.

Hina looked intently at the card and merely scratched her head. "The card itself doesn't seem cursed, but now that it's part of the blade…"

"That was the point. I want both of them destroyed; are you going to do it or not?" Cirno inquired impatiently.

"Yeah, yeah, this'll only take a sec-"

"Hey, hey…Can I have some strawberry?"

Hina turned her head around to find a young girl- no more than ten years old from what she could tell- floating behind her. She wore a red skirt and vest with a pink undershirt. Coming out of her back were two curved rods of iron upon which hung eight prismatic dagger-shaped crystals colored light blue, blue, purple, pink, orange, yellow, light green and light blue again. Her long blonde hair was tied off into a side ponytail by a red ribbon while a pink mob cap rested on her head. The girl looked at Hina with ravenous eyes the color of blood.

Most frightening of all was the pair of fangs visible even when her mouth was shut.

"V-Vampire!" Hina cried out in panic and jumped away from the mysterious stranger.

Cirno found the girl strange as she looked exactly like a younger Flandre yet Flandre's sole other sibling was the young Remilia who definitely looked nothing like the girl before her.

"Yeah, yeah, I'm a vampire~!" the girl replied enthusiastically before repeating, "Can I have some strawberry?"

Though Cirno had a pretty good idea what the girl meant by 'strawberry', she asked the girl anyway. "Do either of us look like we have strawberries on us?"

The girl, who was floating a few meters in front of Hina, almost instantaneously, appeared behind her, a single drop of blood resting on her finger. The girl let out a contented squeal at the taste of her precious 'strawberry'. Hina could barely comprehend what had happened until she touched her cheek; not surprisingly, a small amount of blood was trickling out of a paper thin cut on it.

When the girl spotted Cirno trying to run towards the cursed Excalibur replica Hina dropped in her panic, she opened the palm of her hand. With a cry of 'Kyuu~' the girl abruptly closed her fist. Cirno's former focus shattered as though it exploded from the inside out before dissipating back into the Od it was made from while the Spellcard within turned to ash. Upon realizing that her action aggravated the girl- the final curse her sword laid upon her- Cirno donned her Magus Robes and readied a dozen Caliburn replicas to stall the vampire child long enough for her and Hina to escape.

The Caliburn replicas flew towards their chosen target: the vampire girl who looked like Flandre.

The replicas pulled a 180 degree turn as the vampire child appeared before Cirno. Cirno barely managed to keep the girl back with a low quality Excalibur replica she Transmuted. The Caliburn replicas finally found their target, skewering her. This didn't seem to faze the vampire much- something which didn't surprise Cirno. Cirno pushed back with all her might which managed to get the vampire off her.

Hina, finally overcoming her shock and panic, donned her own Magus Robe. The elegant deep red ball gown had teal frills on it, a stylized kanji for 'misfortune' embroidered onto the hem. She held a pair of metal rings made with a metal the same shade of red as her dress. Hina spun about, moving towards the vampire child. The metal rings in her hands gained a teal aura which was in reality a magical version of an energy blade. This applied to the frills on her dress as well, turning her into an elegant circular saw. Though her attack succeeded at cutting the other girl, her wounds regenerated at a speed only marginally slower than Cirno's own regenerative capabilities.

Hina leapt back to get out of the other girl's striking range, spinning. Several purple wheels appeared around Hina before they rolled towards the vampire. The vast majority of these wheels missed their target, but one managed to get close enough, detonating into a shower of purple glowing shrapnel; not a single one of the pieces of shrapnel even pierced the vampire's skin. Hina soon found herself in a death grip as the girl crashed her back to the ground.

Cirno swung one of the Excalibur replicas she was wielding as her melee weapon at the girl to get her off of Hina. The vampire dodged with her blinding speed and countered by attacking Cirno with a strange bent metal rod with stylized wrought-iron hearts on either end. Cirno parried the blow and followed up with a swift thrust of her other Excalibur replica, striking the girl's heart.

Sadly, Cirno realized, she had hit the vampire with a sword and not a stake which meant her attack was practically useless at injuring the other girl.

"Ahh! My strawberry jam! It's spilling!"

Cirno and Hina would have found the sight of the girl trying to pour her own blood back into her body amusing if the girl wasn't so obsessed with drinking their own 'strawberry jam'. The vampire girl breathed a visible sigh of relief when the wound closed. Cirno and Hina were then treated to a glare that could kill.

"I'm going to drink all your strawberry jam…" the girl said warningly, "_**ALL OF IT~**_"

"That would be so hot if I was a lesbian and she wasn't a mentally unstable vampire child…"

This unnecessary comment from Hina earned her a slap to the head from Cirno. "Damn lolicon, get ready to attack!"

Hina wiped the small trickle of blood from her nose. The vampire girl held her metal rod above her head before a massive gout of flame erupted from it. Cirno shielded Hina from the resulting rain of fireballs. When the two Magi looked back in the direction of the vampire girl they saw that she was holding a massive sword made purely out of fire, a psychotically innocent smile on her face.

"_Wanna play~?_"

Upon uttering this, Hina said to Cirno, "Screw this, I'm out of here!"

"That's what she said too…" Cirno said to nobody in particular after she remembered Rumia saying the exact same thing when faced with that exact same line.

Cirno readied herself in order to cover the hasty retreat of the fleeing Magus. All Cirno saw of the other girl was a blazing trail of flame before the girl's flame sword struck her ice sword. Cirno did her best to absorb as much of the heat from the attack as she could to power herself, but quickly reached her limit without significantly weakening the other's attack. She shunted her excess mana into Reinforcing her swords and armor, allowing her to reach a stalemate with the vampire.

The vampire pushed herself off of Cirno. "Argh, why won't you let me drink your strawberry jam?"

" '_Blood is in you to give', my ass!_" Cirno thought to herself. "Because, oh, I don't know…_Humans need blood to live_."

" 'Blood'?" the girl asked, "No, I want strawberry jam! Gimme!"

"Request denied" Cirno answered coolly.

"You big meanie! I'll make you go 'Kyuu~!' if you don't give me your strawberry jam!" the girl threatened.

"Make me."

Cirno promptly exploded into a shower of blood and entrails.

Hina looked back just in time to see Icy Saber…well…_explode_. The fleeing Magus stopped dead in her tracks. New Magi were often taught that to be a Magus is to walk with death, but that was just an archaic saying back from the days of lore where Magi faced numerous threats to their lives. For her to witness a fellow Magus being murdered so brutally in cold blood…

Hina just snapped.

"Reverse the Birth!"

Hina threw one of her metal rings at the girl's flaming sword, snuffing the flames as it cancelled whatever process was being used to generate it by reversing its origins. The other girl's attempt at rushing Hina was halted as she was pushed back by a large metal wheel. A screeching sound echoed in the alleyway as the vampire displayed the extent of her monstrous strength when she stopped the crushing wheel with a single hand easily.

"You're a vampire, right?" Hina asked the vampire in a voice that quaked with fear. "I bet you like coffins."

"Nuh-uh," the vampire answered with a shake of her head, "I like beds better."

"Well, I don't give a _fuck_ what you think!" Hina screamed back. "Mechanism No. 26, 'Iron Maiden', _Curse Calling!_"

Her remaining metal ring floated from her hand and spun, creating a teal vortex. A red string of light shot forth from it towards the vampire. The girl didn't have a chance to dodge as a blood red coffin whose interior was lined with large spikes closed around her. Though the vampire didn't cry out in pain or plead for mercy, the blood leaking out from the base of the torture device was enough for Hina to believe that she had slain the monster that murdered her fellow Magus.

"That really…"

Hina froze at the sound of the girl's voice and at the sight of her Cursed Mechanism being pried open.

"…really…"

The 'door' to the Iron Maiden was pried open wide enough to see the girl's tear filled eyes glaring at her hatefully.

"…_HURT!_"

The Iron Maiden was torn apart as the vampire pried it open. Ignoring wounds that would kill a human being, the vampire tore herself loose from the spikes in the Maiden's interior to slowly shamble towards Hina. Hina remained frozen even as the girl pushed her down onto the ground and sat on top of her.

The last thing Hina could do before the vampire could feed on her was scream and black out…

**-Border of Reality-**

Marisa and Nitori finally arrived at the Kawashiro home. Nitori lead Marisa to the home's basement where a heavily reinforced steel door was built into the wall. The blue haired girl punched in a series of numbers on the keypad beside it, opening a lock. After that she then placed her hand on a scanner which opened another lock. Another scanner scanned her retina which, upon positive identification, opened the final lock. Once the three locks were disengaged, the door swung open…

…Only to reveal a room no bigger than a broom closet.

Sensing Marisa's confusion, Nitori stepped inside the space where she disappeared after a few seconds. Seeing no reason for Nitori to harm her, Marisa did the same. Marisa was taken aback when the basement was replaced by a large room. Its walls were plated with white steel with banks of strange equipment lining it. Several projectors built into the ceiling were creating holograms of strange objects with even stranger readouts. All in all, Marisa felt as though she travelled forward in time to a not-so-distant future.

Marisa followed Nitori who had waited for her and was busy looking at a computer terminal. Once Nitori noticed Marisa had rejoined her, the younger girl took Marisa around for a tour. While everything was incredibly interesting, there was something that definitely caught Marisa's eye.

"Is that…?"

"Oh, that…It's just a little side project I'm working on. You wouldn't believe how hard it was keeping Flandre away from it…" Nitori replied as Marisa gawked at the partially constructed EVA unit in front of her. "Your Intelligent Device is over here by the way."

Nitori walked over to a pedestal behind a shimmering blue wall. Marisa approached it with trepidation, poking at the wall. It didn't really surprise her that the wall offered some resistance- it seemed like some kind of barrier anyway. She walked through it and joined Nitori on the other side. She was standing in front of a pedestal. The pedestal had a translucent blue hemisphere barrier made up of hexagonal panels. Under the barrier was a small octagonal prism no larger than the palm of Marisa's hand.

"Flatty here is supposed to be my Master?"

Marisa glared at the Device. "Excuse me?"

"You heard me, Flatty; are you my Master?"

"Apparently, though I'm tempted to scrap you, ze."

Nitori immediately panicked upon hearing her creation insult Marisa. "I-I'm sorry…I wanted the Device AI to have some degree of sentience, but I wasn't expecting it to be so…"

"Crass, ze?" supplied Marisa, "Well, I'd be pretty cranky too if I was stuck in a basement all the time, ze."

This observation seemed to impress the Device as it proceeded to compliment her. "You might not have filled out so well, Flatty, but at least all that mass went somewhere useful."

"Thank you, ze. My name is Marisa, Marisa Kirisame."

"The name's Hakkero; nice meeting you, Flatty."

With the two now acquainted, despite the rough start, Nitori typed in the barrier release code. The hexagon panels disappeared one by one from top to bottom until the barrier was completely disengaged. Hakkero floated up and towards Marisa until it was finally resting in her palm.

"Umm, Hakkero-kun, Marisa…This might be a bit sudden, but I'd like to run a systems diagnostic; just want to make sure everything is running fine" Nitori suggested as she moved behind one of the terminals.

"Sure thing, Nitori," Marisa replied. "So then, ze…How do I get my Magical Girl transformation, Hakkero-kun?"

"You'll need to say the correct password so I can add you as one of my system administrators, Flatty."

"And the password is…?"

" '_Star of Wonder, Star of Night; burning, falling, beauty bright_', followed by my name and the activation phrase, 'Set Up'."

"Star of Wonder, Star of Night; burning, falling, beauty bright~! Hakkero-kun, Set Up~!"

The transition was blindingly brilliant, but brief. Within the span of a second Marisa was wearing her Barrier Jacket. It consisted of a black sleeveless shirt with two columns of gold buttons along the front over a black trimmed white shirt. A knee length black skirt was worn over white pantaloons that reached down just past her knees. A pair of sturdy black boots with zippers running up its sides protected her feet while a pair of fingerless black gloves covered her hands. A black cape billowed behind her along with a white and black striped muffler despite the lack of wind. Resting atop her head was a wide brimmed black hat with a white star buckle.

"You look like a witch-hunter, Flatty" Hakkero commented.

Marisa laughed at Hakkero's observation. "Funny, the Marisa from Reimu's world is a witch, ze."

"All Barrier Jacket systems are green across the board," Nitori informed the two. "Why don't you try calling forth your focus?"

"How do I do that, ze?" Marisa asked both Hakkero and Nitori.

"Just imagine a weapon, any weapon; my telepathic link with you will provide me with all the details I need" Hakkero responded.

Marisa did as Hakkero said. She couldn't keep the image of Raising Heart Excellion from coming to her mind. It made her wonder if the other Marisa's _Master Spark_ attack was anything like Divine Buster or Starlight Breaker. The idea of being able to shoot a massive overpowered beam of raw magic appealed to her inner otaku, but her desire to do so was kept in check by the sheer amount of property damage it would cause. A minute passed before her focus materialized in her hand.

The focus was a revolver made of a shiny black metal. Marisa found it strange as its barrel was octagonal rather than cylindrical like the ones she had seen. Engraved into the right side of the barrel and painted in white were the words _Starlight Buster_. Instead of a normal cylinder, Hakkero took its place. Eight octagonal crystals were embedded in Hakkero in the place of chambers. The hammer too had a crystal which would strike the back end of the crystals in Hakkero though it was more pointed and had no discernible shape.

"I was expecting a staff, ze" Marisa commented as she looked down the sights.

Hakkero shuddered at the thought of becoming an overly phallic weapon of mass destruction. "We should start you off with something that keeps your power at a minimum; I'm not exactly designed to clean up bloody smears, Flatty."

Hakkero proceeded to give Marisa a tutorial. "First thing you need to know about this mode is that it doesn't need to reload; the crystals are merely rotated to give them time to charge back up to their maximum charge. Most of the attacks you can access in this form, Buster Mode, tend to be low yield, but are incredibly precise. One of these attacks, [Narrow Spark], is a low yield laser type attack that's pretty good for mid to long range combat. The other attack is [Meteoric Debris], a low yield semi-automatic attack that's more effective at close range- especially if all the shots hit."

"So the faster I squeeze the trigger, the faster it shoots, ze?"

"Pretty much, Flatty," Hakkero replied before warning her, "Do it too fast though and the strength of the shot will be reduced; it's fine if you're just spamming [Meteoric Debris], but avoid doing that with [Narrow Spark] since it's more of a sniping attack. If you need a visual representation of how much charge each crystal has I can display it on the augmented reality heads up display, or ARHUD."

"Got it, ze," though Marisa just had to ask, "Can I get two Busters, ze?"

"It's under Dual Buster Mode, Flatty" confirmed Hakkero. "As for accuracy, Flatty, just note that a single Buster is more accurate; though there's no recoil, a twitch in your hand or even just pulling the trigger can throw off your aim. Usually not a problem, but just keep it in mind."

"Yes! All of the weapon's systems are green too!" Nitori cheered.

Hakkero chuckled. "Looks like Boss is pretty happy with how I turned out."

"Good job, Nitori!" Marisa gave her young lover a congratulatory kiss.

Nitori blushed furiously. "T-Thanks…Marisa…"

Nitori shook her head once she saw what the time was on her own ARHUD. "Wah~! Marisa, it's getting really late into the evening! I'm sorry I took so long with the tour!"

Marisa shook her head while a huge grin was plastered on her face. "Don't worry about it~! Thank you for making this for me."

"Don't forget Flandre helped too," Nitori replied while giving Marisa a clumsy kiss. "Goodnight, Marisa."

Marisa's young lover led her out of the basement. They stopped at the foyer to grab an umbrella for Marisa where Hakkero told her that he could project a barrier to keep her from getting wet. Nitori lightly knocked her head with her fist to mime that she forgot all about the barrier spell, [Protection]. A shimmering blue barrier surrounded Marisa as Hakkero helped her create a small Closed Space seal around her to hide her from view. Though she couldn't actually see Marisa, Nitori nonetheless waved goodbye.

Marisa walked back to Hakurei Shrine under the protection of her barrier and Closed Space. She briefly wondered if she could use Closed Space to have dates with her girlfriends without anyone bothering them. It pained her to realize that Alice and Patchouli weren't Magi and how much fun they were missing out on. Hakkero also added that those who haven't Awakened as a Magi can't appear in Closed Space. This plunged Marisa further into her melancholy since the privacy of Closed Space could only be used by Nitori and Flandre, leaving Alice and Patchouli out.

"You could always try asking Boss to make an Intelligent Device for those two," Hakkero suggested, "But it's only gonna work if they have what it takes to Awaken as Magi."

"Do you think they can, ze?"

Hakkero hummed thoughtfully before replying, "Can't say for certain, Flatty, though I should be able to analyze them if they're close enough."

"Thanks, I really appreciate it, ze."

Whatever Hakkero was gonna say in reply was cut off when a scream pierced the silence of her Closed Space.

[Wide Area Search]

Hakkero intoned this in a monotone voice as the Device rerouted all of its processing power into triangulating the source of the scream. This was determined in less than a second and an inverse chevron appeared marking the distance to the source of the scream with X, Y and Z coordinates.

[Striker Mode]

Hakkero's form changed to that of a broom that Marisa rode. Unlike the strange revolver form Hakkero had, this one seemed relatively normal. The shaft was made of mundane wood- same with the bristles. Yet, when Marisa checked her ARHUD, there five bars showing 100% charge.

"I know, I know, you're curious about the bars on your ARHUD," Hakkero told Marisa. "It's a bit complicated, but I'll explain later; for now, let's focus on figuring out who screamed just now…"

Marisa nodded and Hakkero took off into the skies.

The sight that greeted Marisa wasn't a pretty one. She recognized the girl with green hair as Hina Kagiyama, a student in her year. Marisa landed beside her and placed her fingers on Hina's neck to check for a pulse. The pulse was weak, but definitely there. A quick check of Hina's breathing confirmed that she was fine, but if the bite mark was any indication then she apparently barely survived being attacked by a vampire. Marisa ordered Hakkero to get into contact with Nitori to tell her about what she had stumbled upon.

"A vampire?" Marisa heard Nitori's voice cry out.

"Yeah…Flatty's checked up on the survivor and she's fine, but there's someone here who looked like they got pureed then blown up…Ah, wait, something's happening!"

Marisa and Hakkero's attention was squarely on the blood and entrails splattered all over the alley they were in. As if time itself was being wound back, the pieces of the body came back together with the bones reforming first and the skin last. If the cyan hair wasn't a dead giveaway to Cirno's identity then her Magus Robe, the translucent ice platemail and chainmail armor, was.

Cirno breathed a sigh of relief as she looked down at her Robe. "Stupid Avalon…can't even regenerate my uniform…"

"Oi, you're lucky to be alive, lass," Hakkero said to Cirno, "Considering how you were just a blood splatter on the wall I think you can afford to give the artifact some slack."

"What happened here?" Marisa asked.

"I don't really remember…" Cirno replied. "I _do_ remember coming here to meet with Kagiyama-senpai, but everything after that is a blank; I suppose Avalon is not very good at restoring short term memory either…"

"Try and remember that next time you decide to get blown up, lass" Hakkero suggested to her before chuckling.

"Indeed," Cirno sighed before taking another glance at Marisa. "It seems like some interesting things happened while I was out. Why don't we take Kagiyama-senpai to Yagokoro-sensei and you can fill me in on the details? I will need to get into contact with Keine-sensei to report this incident."

"Incident, huh?" Marisa said to herself.

"Rei-nyan is not gonna be happy about this…"

_~Border of Fantasy~_

Marisa took another sip of her tea to help calm her down.

"What," the gap youkai asked her, "Is this doujin not to your liking?"

"I already told you, I'm not into that kind of stuff, ze!"

Yukari hid a teasing grin behind her fan. "Then why do you have so many of them?"

"I don't always check which books I borrow from Voile," Marisa gritted out, "Kinda hard to when an asthmatic magician is spamming spells at your ass, ze!"

"And what an ass indeed!" Yukari replied before breaking out into a fit of laughter. This comment was made even funnier by the fact that Yukari was reading the Ass Kicks You entry on TvTropes.

Specifically the one referring to 'Iron Bloomer Marisa'.

It was just another fine afternoon in Gensokyo. Marisa had invited John and Shino over to her cottage for some tea to give them a break from the restoration work on the Settlement. The four of them had quickly become friends after the Incident at the Settlement. While Marisa was getting a math lecture from John after the former asked the latter how to use Raising Heart, Yukari and her entourage appeared out of a gap. The next thing Marisa knew, she was being harassed by Yukari who was making her read things Kaguya called manga.

Particularly those of the yuri and hentai variety.

The aforementioned exchange between the Ordinary Witch and the Border of Phantasm was interrupted by a raging loli. Said loli appeared to have simply dropped out of the sky, the ground under her breaking with the tremendous force of her landing. Reimu and John were the first to react, the Gate of Babylon and Raising Heart aimed at the intruder. John placed a hand on Reimu's shoulder and shook his head before pulling her back. Reimu was about to attack the girl before them anyway, but Yukari made the same gesture as John which was enough for her to back down.

"Whoa, who pissed you off, Remi-chan?" Shino asked the master of the Scarlet Devil Mansion.

The vampire ignored one of her three most frequent visitors. "WHERE IS SHE?"

This vague question was aimed at Yukari who looked just as perplexed as Remilia. "I don't know."

"DON'T GIVE ME THAT 'I DON'T KNOW' CRAP!" the loli vampire angrily retorted before she broke down, "I know you visit my little sister all the time…please…just tell me where she is…I don't care why you took her away…"

"I would if I could" Yukari replied with a shrug.

Admittedly not the best gesture to give to a raging five hundred year old immature loli vampire.

Remilia was in front of Yukari in under a second and had the border youkai by the neck. Had the situation not been so serious, one would have found the sight of the much taller Yukari being lifted off the ground by her neck by Remilia, who was less than five feet tall, amusing. It's also worth noting that Remilia, who reacts adversely to direct sun exposure, was wearing a translucent pink negligee in the middle of the afternoon directly under the sun.

Not that it hampered her at all.

"Do you really think I would be sitting here having a nice cup of tea with my host if I knew that one of Gensokyo's most dangerous residents was missing?"

This comment by Yukari seemed to be enough to placate Remilia as the vampire placed Yukari back onto terra firma. With their master no longer held in a death grip, Ran and Chen relaxed slightly though they were still wary of Remilia. A flustered Sakuya landed in front of Marisa's cottage not long after, bringing a parasol for her mistress to rest under.

With the effect of adrenaline waning and the effects of sun exposure catching up to her, Remilia's fatigue began increasing while her rage decreased. Sakuya held the parasol above her mistress such that it blocked the sun as much as possible.

"Mistress Remilia…your…clothes…"

Sakuya handed Remilia her clothes to change into. John, being the sole male being surrounded by females who far out powered him, immediately turned around.

For some unfathomable reason, Remilia was _disappointed_.

"Mistress Remilia, please do not go off dressed like that," the silver haired maid said to her mistress. "Emergency or not, you have an image to uphold."

Remilia pointedly ignored her maid.

"It's like what happened to me-"

This caught Remilia's interest immediately and Reimu only belatedly realized the error she committed.

"-Ah, crap…"

"What do you mean by that…?"

"She is not our Reimu Hakurei," Yukari replied, "It would appear a force other than me has brought her here whilst taking away the Reimu we know."

"Is the culprit who kidnapped my little sister the same one that took our Reimu away?"

"Most likely, but they keep evading detection; so far, I have been unable to ascertain their identity," Yukari answered, "…I'm sorry."

"Whoa, Yukari actually _apologized_, ze."

"I suppose I was complacent in the results my new student produced" Yukari was referring to how Maribel had managed to recreate a lesser version of the Great Hakurei Barrier over the last week.

Yukari still wasn't entirely sure how Maribel had managed to pull that off.

"I know your trust in me is lacking due to how I used you during the failed invasion of the moon, but I've grown rather fond of your little sister."

Yukari extended a hand to Remilia.

"Let us work together again; not for conquest, not for power, but to rescue those we hold dear."

Remilia accepted Yukari's offer.

* * *

><p>Author's Notes: And thus starts a new Arc. In case the Arc name didn't give it away, this Arc will have more focus on the cast of Embodiment of the Scarlet Devil. Before you ask, <em>yes<em>, Marisa has a harem...the AU one anyway. Believe it or not, the homosexual subtext in Touhou is because of me...and the countless legions of Touhou fans across the world (possibly beyond); ZUN doesn't deny this, but he doesn't exactly admit to it either. I honestly can't blame fandom for running away with it though; after all, the only males are a weak half-human/half-youkai pawn shop owner, a pink cloud, Marisa's dad (yes, Mr. Kirisame does indeed exist; read Perfect Memento in the Strict Sense. It's written by ZUN himself so it's as credible as an awesome drunk guy can get), Youmu's grandfather (aka half-human/half-ghost badass) and youkai Jesus' little brother (who is dead). Pretty sure I must have missed at least one other person, but I think I've made my point.

Also, Canon!Flandre has escaped into the Outside world...

Celebrate or despair?

You decide.

...and you can have my strawberry jam any day of the week, Flan-chan; assuming my genetic disorder doesn't make my blood toxic to vampires...


End file.
